On Both Sides of the Line
by dorme99
Summary: When Edward left Bella in the forest she thought that he took her heart with him. Is Jacob's love strong enough to show Bella that her heart was never really Edward's to take? This story is AU and Edward is VERY OC
1. Chapter 1 Too Insane to Care

_**A/N: This was my first fan fic that I posted the beginning of this year. I am in the process of having it beta'd. Even if you have already read this please read it again and let me know what you think!**_

**Jacob POV**

When Edward Cullen left Forks and broke Bella's heart I hadn't phased yet. I had no idea that he was a vampire. For a long time, I wondered how Bella could take their break up so badly that it caused her to waste away. How could her love for him have been so strong she willed herself to die? Bella's reaction when Edward left wasn't normal and it scared me to witness it.

It wasn't until I became a werewolf and realized that all of the legends that I have grown up hearing were true that I understood the depth of what Bella had gone through. Bella had been pulled into a world that she shouldn't have known anything about and that bloodsucking prick left her on her own to struggle her way through it.

She didn't come to me back then because it was a secret that she couldn't share with anyone. After Bella realized I was a part of the supernatural world too, she _still_ didn't talk to me about what she was going through because the Cullens were my mortal enemy, and she knew I couldn't understand how she could have ever loved a vampire in the first place.

Over the last six months, Bella and I had started hanging out. She had come over with two broken down motorcycles and asked if I could fix them. It was a challenge that I was willing to take on. Everyday that Bella came over was one of the best days of my life. Putting a smile on her face is what I lived for.

Slowly, she began to come back to life, and things started to go well. My feelings for Bella became stronger, and I never tried to hide the way I felt about her. At first she put up walls and kept me at a distance, but I never gave up on her. She needed to know that I thought she was worth fighting for.

Finally, my patience began to pay off. She began to let me into her heart. When we walked on the beach and I reached for her hand she stopped pulling away. When we sat together on the couch and I pulled her toward me and wrapped my arms around her, she let me.

When I told Bella that I loved her she didn't go rigid and say she didn't feel the same way. Instead, she said," I know you love me Jacob." Her response was disappointing but it still gave me a little hope. Then three days ago a series of events began that changed the course of our lives once again.

Bella decided to go cliff diving without me and almost drowned. I was so thankful that I got to her in time and she was still alive. If something would have happened to her then my life would have ended. My body felt numb when I pulled her out of the water and she wasn't breathing. I would have done CPR on her all night if that is what it would have taken to bring her back to me.

Harry Clearwater died of a heart attack. This was devastating to me because Harry was like a second father to me. He was loved by everyone on the reservation and the pain that the pack was going through because of our connection with Leah and Seth's thoughts were almost crippling.

The short black-haired leech came to see Bella. I wished I'd picked up the leech's scent before Bella had a chance to see the leech doctor's car. I would have driven away and Bella would be with me right now. I wasn't happy about the bloodsucker coming back to Forks, but she only came because she thought that Bella had committed suicide.

It made Bella happy that the leech was there but it made me furious. She had no right to try and come back into Bella's life. Of course I had to tell Sam. He sent me back to find out if any more of them were coming back and how long they would be there. He wanted me to inform her that while she or any Cullen was in Forks then Bella would have to go unprotected by us because of the treaty.

I explained to the bloodsucker about the red-headed leech and her eyes became wide. Since Bella spent all of her time with my werewolf friends and I Alice hadn't been able to see Bella in her visions. She had no idea about Victoria. I heard her mumble under her breath how stupid her brother was for leaving and all he had managed to do was create a bigger mess.

It was very difficult for the leech and I to be in the same room so she left to go stalk Bambi and have it for dinner. I followed Bella into the kitchen. Bella spun around and looked at me with a tired and weary expression.

"Let's just get this over with. Tell me how stupid I am for wanting to see Alice and not kicking her out of my house. Go ahead and look at me with the contempt and disgust that I know you are feeling right now toward me."

I had been shocked at her outburst and it broke my heart to see the raw pain that was in her eyes. I slowly walked toward Bella and I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"You don't disgust me. I don't hate you and you are not stupid. Bella, love doesn't have an on and off switch that you have control over. I love you enough to know and understand that it doesn't matter how much _I_ may think spending time with Alice is a bad idea. _You_ think her being here is something that you need to help you to continue to get better."

Bella started crying. Holding her close I bent my head down and kissed the top of her head and then her cheek. I leaned back and put my finger under her chin and lifted her head up to make her look at me. I wanted her to see the unconditional love in my eyes. I gently wiped away the tears that were falling down her cheeks with the back of my hand.

Our eyes locked, and slowly I leaned toward her. I decided that I was going to kiss her. I had to feel her soft lips on mine. Bella closed her eyes and leaned toward me. She was going to let me kiss her! Bella was allowing me to enter into her heart and nothing up until that moment had compared to what I felt inside. Bella had been close enough to me that I had felt her lips touch mine. Just when I had been about to have my moment in heaven the phone had rung...

_Why had I answered the phone?_

I wanted to phase, to run away and never come back. Bella was gone. After that phone call she went to Italy to save the stupid leech from killing himself. I'd begged and pleaded for her not to go, but she pulled away from me and said, "Even if he doesn't love me anymore, I can't let him die because of me." She ran to the leech's car waiting for her outside, got in and they drove away.

I sat in the kitchen for almost an hour, staring at the place where Bella and I almost had our first kiss. I thought about it over and over and over again. I got up and walked toward the phone that hung on the wall. I wanted to rip it out from the wall and turn it into dust. I paced back and forth running my hands through my hair and my mind screamed, "How could Bella do this to me? How could she turn her back on us and go back to him?"

A very small voice in the back of my mind came to the surface and said, _"Because when Edward left, he took Bella's heart with him. She believes that without him, she has no life. Just like you know that without Bella, you won't live." _

That wasn't what I wanted to hear. My body shook with pain and I cried when I realized that I'd lost Bella before she had a chance to truly be mine.

I thought about where she was going and there was a strong possibility that she wouldn't come back. Charlie would be devastated. He'd just lost his best friend and now he'd come home and find out that his daughter had run off with no clue when and if she would return.

I decided to cover for her and hoped that she made it back to Forks with a beating heart.

**Charlie POV**

This was one of the longest and hardest days I'd had to experience in a long time. I'd lost one of my closest friends today and was really hurting. All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed.

I pulled up into the driveway and noticed that the kitchen light was on so I knew that Bella was awake. As I opened the door and called out for Bella, I saw Jacob sitting in the kitchen with his arms folded across his chest and a blank expression on his face.

"Hey Jacob, where's Bella?"

Jacob looked around before he spoke with irritation in his voice.

"Bella left. Alice called and told her that Esme was in a horrible car accident and Alice was very upset. Of course Bella wanted to be there for the family. She was going to write you a note, but I promised her I would wait here for you so I could tell you in person. The Cullens are in Los Angeles and she'll stay long enough to make sure Esme will be okay and then she will come back home. Bella told me to tell you to please not worry about her and that she loves you very much."

Well that was a shock; the Cullens had been gone for six months. How could Alice have the nerve to call Bella for support when she left my daughter a broken mess? Bella's love for that Cullen boy had robbed her of all common sense and self respect.

We would have to have a serious talk when she got back. I looked at Jacob and thanked him for waiting around for me to get home and told him he was more than welcome to stay for as long as he wanted. I walked upstairs, collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep sleep.

**Jacob POV**

I can't believe I got away with that lie. Charlie was usually very perceptive so he must have been really out of it. I hurried up and left, just in case he decided to ask me more questions. I asked myself why I was doing this. My answer was because I loved Bella and believed there was still hope for us.

Once I reached the woods, I got undressed and phased. I ran back to the Rez to complete the rest of my made-up story. Once I reached my house, I phased back and got dressed.

I went to my room to get my cell phone and texted a message to Bella.

_"Hope you live to read this message. Charlie thinks you're in LA with Alice. Call me for details. Jacob."_

I closed my cell phone, fell back onto my bed and slipped into a dreamless sleep.

**Please be as honest as possible when reviewing. I want everyone that reads this story to actually enjoy it. Thank you evilpumpkin and ****Pastiche. Lethe for helping beta. You had a lot of work on your hands. It was a very hot mess. **

**I look forward to posting the next chapter soon!**


	2. Chapter 2 What is the Truth?

**Bella POV**

What I experienced over the past twenty-four hours would give me nightmares for the rest of my life. I'd come face to face with the most powerful and deadliest creatures on the earth. They're called the Volturi. I never wanted to look into the eyes of those disgusting, cruel red-eyed creatures again.

Standing before the Volturi, I thought to myself how selfish and stupid I'd been. My death would crush Charlie, Renee, and Jacob. I could imagine my parents spending years after my death looking for me and being heartbroken when they finally realized that I would never be coming home. It would kill Jacob and Billy to stand by helplessly and watch my parents suffer through so much pain and not share the real reason why they'd never see their daughter again.

I was so frustrated with Edward after the confrontation with the Volturi. He was so stubborn about not turning me that he would have let me die at the hands of the Volturi. Thankfully, Alice stepped up and told Aro that her visions showed that I would become one of them. He touched her and saw for himself. I was able to breath again when it was decided that I would be given time to stay human, but would have to be turned before they decided to come and check for themselves.

We were allowed to walk away from that tomb of death and now I was on a plane headed home and as each minute went by I realized that I was scared about what my future would hold. I had been exposed to too much and now I feared every shadow that crossed my path. I dreaded what Jacob's reaction would be when he realized the deal we had to make in order for me to leave that place alive.

Edward didn't seem to notice how tired and on edge I was. He used to be so good at knowing my moods. In the past I wasn't able to hide anything from him, but here he sat calmly next to me holding my hand. Trying to relax, I closed my eyes and thought about who would be waiting for me when we landed in Seattle.

_**Flashback Moment after leaving Italy**_

_We got off the plane at the JFK Airport and were waiting for our connecting flight to Seattle. I remembered that my phone had been off the whole time I'd been gone because I didn't want to be distracted by my dad or Jacob. I turned my phone back on. I braced myself for the angry message that I knew Charlie would have left._

_There was one voicemail message and one text. I checked my voicemail first and it was my dad. He was furious. I could almost hear the huge vein pulsating on the side of his neck as he yelled into the receiver. Charlie wanted me on the first flight back to Seattle and he would be waiting on the front porch with a shotgun so for me not to think about bringing Edward back with me. He wanted to know how I could go running off to the Cullens after the way they treated me and of course I was grounded. __I had been right; Charlie was mad. I knew I would be spending a lot of time making this up to him._

_So I checked my text message, and it was from Jacob. _

_It said, "Hope you live to read this message. Charlie thinks you're in LA with Alice. Call me for details. Jacob." _

_What did Jacob do? I decided to call him back but I didn't feel comfortable calling him in front of Edward. I told him I needed to have a human moment and rushed off to the nearest bathroom. Once I was in a stall, I called Jacob and thankfully he answered on the first ring. _

_"Bella, where are you?"_

_He sounded so worried it took me off guard and I didn't respond. A couple of seconds later I heard Jacob let out a breath of air and he said, _"_Bella, say something! I need to hear your voice. I was so worried about you. Are you okay? Were you hurt? Are you on your way home?"_

"_Yes, Jacob, I'm okay. I'm not hurt and I am on my way home. That's why I'm calling you; I got your text and wanted to know what you told Charlie exactly."_

"_After you ran off with that leech, I didn't leave your house right away. I made up a story about the mama leech getting into a car accident and the fortune teller called and begged you to come see her for support. You left immediately to make sure that they were okay."_

_I was tired of standing so I collapsed onto the toilet of the stall I was standing in and accidentally hit the handle with my elbow. As the toilet flushed in the background I said, "__Jacob, why would you cover for me? I ran off and left you after you begged me to stay. I know that I hurt you when I chose to save Edward when you needed me there with you. Why did you lie for me?"_

"_Bella, like I said before, I love you and I want you to be happy. I know that you blame yourself for that leech wanting to off himself, and if he had gone through with it and you had not lifted a finger to help him then you would have been truly destroyed. No matter how much I love you and wish that you hated Cullen with all your heart I know that's not true. _

"_I know that seeing him again is what you have been silently waiting for all of this time. He broke you and I helped to put you back together but in the end a heart wants what it wants. Your dad just lost his best friend. He didn't need to come home to find you gone and not know if you were coming back."_

_I stood in that bathroom stall and tears began to fall down my cheeks. Suddenly, my chest started to hurt and it was a little hard to breathe. I thought to myself that even though I'd ripped out my best friend's heart and stomped on it; he was still there trying to clean up the mess that was my life._

_At that moment all I could say was, "Thank you, for helping me. Edward and Alice have ridden back with me but would it be possible for you to pick me up from the airport?"_

"_Sure, sure, but why isn't Cullen taking you home?"_

_I thought about that question for a second and I simply said, "Because I don't want him to."_

_Clearly Jacob wasn't expecting that answer. After a pause all he said in response was, _"_Okay then."_

_I told Jacob my flight information, hung up the phone and wondered how I was going to explain this to Edward. _

_End of flashback_

I thought about the moment I was in Edward's arms again and how he professed his love for me. My life should have fallen back into place. My shredded heart should have been put back together, but the hole was still there and I wasn't sure why. The love of my life was sitting next to me with his frozen hand covering mine. Thinking about it caused me to shiver and all I wanted to do was shake it off. That just couldn't be right.

Before Edward left me I was willing to walk away from my human life to be a part of his. Nothing else mattered to me except us being together forever. Now I appreciated Edward's stubbornness to keep me human. After almost dying at the hands of the Volturi I realized that I wanted to get married and have children. I didn't want to fake my death and never see my family and friends again, and I didn't want Jacob to become my enemy.

I knew I couldn't prolong this anymore. We would be landing soon and I still had not told Edward about Jacob picking me up. So I took a deep breath and turned toward Edward.

"When we land, Jacob Black is going to be there to take me home."

Edward's grip on my hand tightened a little and he said, "Why would Jacob Black be there waiting to take you home? How does he even know when we are going to land?"

"I called him while I was in the restroom at JFK".

I explained to him about Charlie's voicemail and Jacob's text and how he worked it out for me so that Charlie wouldn't be too worried about me.

I expected Edward to be grateful for what Jacob did, but instead, he just looked at me with an expressionless face and said, "That _dog_ will not be taking you home. He will not come near you. I will take you home. He is a werewolf and very dangerous and I forbid you to have anymore contact with him."

As he spoke I felt the anger rise within me. I closed my eyes before I began to speak. "You forbid me? What right do you have to tell me what to do? You left me to fend for myself and that _werewolf_ that is so dangerous was the one that had been putting me back together.

As I continued to speak Edward's eyes opened wide with shock.

"Jacob and his friends have been risking their lives to keep me safe from Victoria, so don't try to strong arm me about seeing Jacob. If he is still willing to be my friend after I walked away from him to come and save and be with you, then that's something that you are just going to have to deal with. If you can't deal with that, then I guess you can turn back around and go back to Italy and this time when you try to kill yourself I won't stop you!" I knew what I was saying was out of anger, but I was so upset by what he had said that I didn't care.

**Edward POV**

Bella's reaction was shocking. She was very defensive when it came to that dog. So I asked, "Bella what exactly _is_ your relationship with Jacob Black?"

She looked away from me, responding by shrugging her shoulders and said they were just friends. I found that hard to believe because she'd just told me to go back to Italy and kill myself. This wasn't the Bella I walked away from six months ago. I didn't know what to say.

After a few moments Bella said, "Look Edward, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. You made me angry when you said that you forbade me to see Jacob again. He's my best friend and he means a lot to me. I won't stay away from him. Pretty soon when I'm changed I'm not going to be able to be his friend anymore. He's going to hate me and I'm going to have to move far away from him. So for now I'm going to cherish the time that I do have to spend with him because he is a major part of my life."

I was relieved to hear that she still saw a future for us. Bella was right, I had left her to fend for herself and the werewolves had been there to protect her. For now I would let this Jacob thing go. I didn't like this one bit. I felt it down to my core that allowing Bella to remain friends with Jacob was a very big mistake but I had to tread lightly. Even though she said that she forgave me I could see that she had a lot of resentment and pain toward me.

**Bella POV**

As the plane began to descend I chanted over and over again, "I miss my best friend. I miss my Jacob.

**I would like to give special thanks to ****Bella_Barbaric and ColdComfort4 for their awesome beta skills. I learned something new in grammar it's called an **_**ellipsis. **_**It's something that helps to bring emotion alive in a story. I tried to research it to apply it to this chapter but I couldn't figure it out but it was nice to learn something new.**

**Thanks for the reviews and story alerts. Chapter Three will be posted soon.**


	3. Chapter 3 Not The Answer I Wanted Pt One

**Billy POV**

Something was not right. I had just gotten off the phone with a very angry Charlie. He told me that Bella went to Los Angeles to see one of the Cullens because her "mom"got into an accident. I knew about Bella's history with vampires so I wasn't too surprised about her running off to see them, but what I didn't understand was why Jacob was mixed up in this? Why was he covering for Bella?

Finally, I heard my son stirring in his room so I called him to the kitchen so we could have a little talk…

Jacob shuffled slowly into the kitchen and said, "Yeah, Dad."

I instructed Jacob to have a seat. He slowly walked over to the table and with a look of irritation; he flopped down into the chair which caused it to creak loudly.

I looked Jacob in the eyes and said, "I just got off of the phone with Charlie. He told me a very interesting story. It seems that Bella is in _Los Angeles_ comforting Alice because her mother was in a horrible car accident."

Jacob opened his mouth to speak but I raised my hand to silence him.

"When Charlie started telling me this story I felt really bad for him thinking that Bella had finally taken that last step and run off with Edward. But then the story got better. Charlie told me that _you_ were the one who gave him this information.

"Why are you covering for Bella? She runs off with the leeches and you lie for her? Son, have you snapped? Please explain it to me because I just don't get it."

Jacob stared at me for a while but he didn't answer me.

I leaned forward and said with disgust, "Well, what is going to happen to Charlie when Bella doesn't come back? Do you have another story to tell him then?"

Jacob stood up and walked away. He turned around and looked at me.

"Dad, I know what I'm doing."

Jacob walked out of the house and ran into the woods.

**Jacob POV**

I was hoping I would have a little more time before Charlie told my dad. I'd wanted to keep my plan a secret from everybody except Sam.

I'd learned that I had a lot of control over my thoughts while in wolf form. So the pack only got glimpses of what I wanted them to know, all except Sam.

Maybe because he was the Alpha was able to see every thought I had. Luckily when I got to Sam's house there was nobody there. Sam was in his backyard cutting wood. When Sam saw me coming he stopped what he was doing and waited for me to speak.

"Sam, I need to tell you something."

I took a deep breath and said, "Well after you sent me back to talk to the short leech, Bella and I got into a little argument about her socializing with a Cullen after what they did to her.

"Well, it was more of her accusing me of hating her for socializing with leeches. One thing led to another and somehow Bella and I almost kissed but then the phone rang."

I started pacing back and forth and my hands were beginning to tremble.

"It was the leech that left her in the woods. He was told by one of the other bloodsuckers that Bella jumped off of a cliff and died. When the phone rang I answered it and he asked for Charlie. I told him Charlie was not there, he was making funeral arrangements.

"I was talking about Harry's funeral. I didn't know the leech was calling to find out if Bella was alive. So he jumped to conclusions and went to Italy to have himself killed by some old as crack vampires."

I started pulling my hair and slammed my fist into the nearest tree. I growled and said, "The fortune teller saw it in a vision and told Bella. Bella panicked and of course ran off with the leech to save poor Edward. I tried to get Bella to stay but it was no use. When Charlie got home I told him a lie about Bella being with the Cullens in Los Angeles. Billy knows so he's mad at me. I'm telling you because you'll find out anyway."

Sam stood and stared at me for a moment. He shook his head and said, "Most people would try and shake some sense into you. Tell you to wake up, the girl was gone, wouldn't be coming back and even if she did she wouldn't be with you. But I won't do that because Bella is your imprint.

I thought that Sam was going to start yelling at me but he didn't. He turned away from me and walked toward the tree line. I followed behind him and we sat down. Sam picked up a stick and threw it.

"Jacob, why haven't you told Bella that you imprinted on her?"

"I wanted Bella to know in her heart that her love for me was a natural love, not something mystical that her mind and body chemistry were forced into."

"Jacob, Bella has to come back and even if for now she is with Edward, she's not going to be able to stay away from you. She's drawn to you and being away from you is going to force the realization in her mind that she can't be without you.

"If her emotions weren't so damaged you two would have imprinted instantaneously like Jared and me did. That's why you've done all the things you could to make sure Bella would be happy. She's needed an understanding friend and that is what you've been. It goes against everything we believe in and I would never openly admit this to anyone else but I think Edward coming back into the picture is a good thing."

No matter what she decided to do I would always be tied to her. Even if she decided to become a bloodsucking leech, I would go to my grave loving her with all of my heart.

I'll never forget the day that I imprinted on her. It was the day that she came looking for me at my house after my transformation. I was so overwhelmed by what I had become that I didn't understand what those feelings meant.

I couldn't describe how my love for Bella intensified a thousand times over. I thought my heart was going to burst. But I was too unstable at that time and I didn't want to put Bella in any danger. So I had to push her away and try to leave her alone.

But that didn't last too long. The same night I had to see her and I told her that I was a werewolf. Sam wanted me to tell her that I had also imprinted on her but I wanted her to love me because I'm Jacob not because she was my imprint.

Sam was very perceptive. All the time that Bella and I were spending together he knew that it would be a matter of time before Bella realized that I would be the right choice for her.

_The next day…_

Bella had just called me and she was on her way back. Not only that but she asked me to pick her up from the airport. I didn't know what happened while Bella was gone but the fact that she didn't sound like she was joined at the hip to Edward was a good sign.

Sam was going to come with me. I didn't trust myself to be able to control my temper around that bloodsucker. I remembered on one of the rare occasions Bella talked about Cullen she told me that he could read minds. I was going to recite the most annoying song I could think of in my mind over and over again. I didn't want to take a chance on him knowing about the imprint.

**Thank you for the reviews and I hope you liked this chapter. Thank you Twilightrocks123 and Coldcomfort 4 for your help with this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4 Not The Answer I wanted Pt Two

**Edward POV**

I didn't want to let Bella walk into the arms of Jacob Black. I didn't trust him. I didn't trust what Bella said they had together. What happened? I was the air she breathed before I left and now she could just walk away from me?

She wasn't concerned that I could disappear again. Bella had already left the plane and was several feet ahead of me. She didn't try to hold my hand, or grab onto me or anything like that. Not once had she looked back to see if I was even there. Bella had pep in her step that had absolutely nothing to do with me.

After my conversation with Bella about her riding arrangements, Alice gave me some advice. She told me if I wanted to salvage my relationship with Bella then I had better for once in my life not force Bella to do what I thought was best but instead listen to what Bella said she needed.

Even after we left Italy, I took for granted that we would just go back to the way we were. But no, Bella had a _plan._ She wanted me and Alice to go back to New York and stay for about a month.

Then we would move back. The story would be that Esme missed the quietness of Forks so they all decided to move back. I had to restrain myself and not say what I thought of that plan.

Now that I had Bella in my life again, I couldn't be away from her for a whole month. What happened to her wanting to be changed as soon as possible so that we could spend eternity together? I at least got her to agree to let me come to her room tonight to spend some time together.

Maybe this was a test to see if I would indeed come back. I refused to believe that it was because of Jacob Black.

**Bella POV**

I arrived back in Washington. I survived and made it back.

Was I glad to be back? I felt this overpowering need for something but I didn't know what it was. I looked at Edward but the need didn't lessen.

Why was that? He was what I had been pining over for almost six months. But right now I couldn't seem to get away from Edward fast enough. I unbuckled my seat belt and almost leapt out of my seat to get off the plane.

I almost started running once we were off of the plane. Jacob was the only person on my mind at the moment. But shouldn't I be thinking about Edward right now? The Volturi practically handed me the life that I'd been begging Edward to give me and all I wanted right now was Jacob's smile, his smell, and his warmth.

I scanned the crowd ahead of me and there he was: my personal sun, my best friend, the person who gave me my life back. Before I realized what I was doing, I ran as fast as I could and closed the distance between us. Once I reached him, I flew into his arms, and felt like my search was over and I was home.

Being in Jake's arms at that moment felt so right, I took a deep breath to inhale his woody scent and continued to hold on. Jacob gave me a tight squeeze and then he whispered in my ear, "I really appreciate that you missed me, but I think that the lee… um Alice and Edward are waiting to talk to you."

I let go of Jacob, quickly blushing and said, "Oh, that's right, Edward. I need to talk to him before we leave."

Jacob looked in Edward's direction and flashed his beautiful white smile and said, "Go and talk to them, take as much time as you need."

I turned around toward Edward and Alice and slowly walked toward them. Alice spoke first.

"Thank you again, Bella, for helping me rescue Edward. That was so selfless of you and I admire you so much for doing it. I'm going to miss you. You have my number please call me and keep me updated because you know with the werewolves around I can't see you."

I gave Alice a hug and I told her that I would miss her too and that I would call her everyday to let her know I was okay. She walked away to give Edward and me some privacy.

Edward looked at me and asked if it was still okay for him to come and visit me tonight after Charlie went to sleep. I told him yes, he could come and see me. Edward grabbed my hands and said, "I never want to let you go. Being away from you for a couple of hours is going to be torture for me. Can I kiss you, Bella?"

It was strange that Edward asked if he could kiss me. I guess since we left Italy I've had a wall up that kept him at bay. I hesitated before I answered. Before Edward left me six months ago I couldn't get enough of kissing him and I always wanted more from him, but now the thought of his cold lips touching me made me shiver.

"Of course you can kiss me."

Edward pulled me toward him and he slowly bent his head down toward me and lightly placed his cold lips on mine. I tried to savor the moment because this was Edward but all I felt was coldness. I pushed away from Edward and told him I had to go. I turned away from him and walked toward the exit doors and didn't look back.

**Edward POV**

It was very hard for me to restrain myself when I saw Bella fling her body toward Jacob. He had changed a lot since the last time I'd seen him. He was several inches taller and he looked more like twenty-five than someone still in high school. I felt the rumble begin in my chest. Alice whispered, "Edward, control yourself, Bella is walking a fine line right now, and if you cause a scene you will loose her. I guarantee it."

I tried to distract myself by listening to Jacob's thoughts. At that moment Jacob looked toward me and he smiled.

He was blocking his thoughts from me by singing "_Hungry Like a Wolf_"

_In touch with the ground  
I'm on the hunt I'm after you  
Smell like I sound I'm lost in a crowd.  
And I'm hungry like the wolf.  
Straddle the line in discord and rhyme  
I'm on the hunt I'm after you.  
Mouth is alive with juices like wine  
And I'm hungry like the wolf _

The bastard, he was taunting me. I thought I would have the upper hand because Jacob was just a kid, but he knew how to fight dirty. Bella slowly walked away from Jacob and Sam and she came toward us.

There was no pep in her step now and no urgency to get back to my side. I didn't like this at all. I couldn't leave Bella for a month with that mutt.

Bella and Alice shared their good-byes. I tried to express to her how much I would miss her even if it was for a couple of hours, and then I found myself asking if I could kiss her.

The kiss was flat and over before it really began. She pushed away from me and told me that she didn't want to keep Jacob and Sam waiting. Then she walked away from me and never looked back.

**Bella POV**

Once I got into Jacob's Rabbit we drove off. Sam was sitting in the back seat already asleep. I guessed it didn't matter if Sam heard us or not because once Jacob phased, he would know the whole conversation anyway.

I looked toward Jacob and asked, "Why did you do that?"

Jacob continued to look forward.

"Do what?"

"Send me off to talk to Edward. Why did you do that? Aren't you worried about him losing control and sucking my blood or breaking my heart again? You had me in your arms and you sent be back to your enemy."

Jacob shrugged and said, "First of all you were in a crowded airport. I didn't think you were in too much danger. Second, Edward is your true love, right? As your best friend I thought I was supposed to be supportive and encourage you to be with the love of your life."

AHHH!

My head was starting to hurt from all the emotions I was going through right now. After a couple minutes of silence Jacob asked, "So Bella, are you going to tell me what happened on this adventure of yours? The leech is clinging to you again so I know that you got to him in time. Did anything exciting happen? Did you get to slay a few vampires?"

I rolled my eyes at Jacob. I didn't appreciate him making fun of such a serious situation.

"Very funny, I was scared out of my mind most of the time I was there. I got to Edward right when he was about to expose himself to a crowd of people. I forced him back into the shadows and just when I thought we were done and ready to go home some of the Volturi showed up."

Jacob cut me off and asked, "What are the Volturi?"

"The Volturi are vampire royalty. They make sure that all vampires follow the rules of the vampire world and if they don't they are killed.

"They showed up and escorted us to the leaders Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They were fascinated by me because their mind powers had no effect on me. Their amazement didn't last too long, though. It's against the vampire law for humans to know about their existence so there were two choices for me. Either die or agree to be changed. That's the short version of the story."

Jacob's mouth was hanging open. He must have realized it because he closed it. His hands were tightly gripping the steering wheel and he was shaking a little and he asked in a very quiet voice, "So are you saying that if you are not turned into a leech then they will come and kill you? When is this supposed to happen?"

"Edward told me on the plane that the Volturi's time is not like our time. It could be ten to twenty years before they decide to come and see if I was changed or not."

Jacob was glaring at me so I turned my head and looked out the window as I spoke.

"Honestly, before Edward left I hounded him to change me, it was something that we argued about a lot. He didn't want to do it. He wanted me to stay human. But we always had to be so careful, but if I was like him then that wouldn't be an issue anymore. But now that it seems that Edward has no say in the matter, I'm not thrilled about it. I don't think that I want to be a vampire anymore. I feel like my life is being pulled in another direction and I don't know where that direction is yet."

I looked at Jacob and I placed my hand on his shoulder. This seemed to calm some of the shaking.

"Don't worry about it, Jacob, I have time to work that out. Can we just focus on the fact that I made it back alive and just let the chips fall where they may?"

Jacob distractedly said, "Sure, sure."

The rest of the ride home was quiet. Once we got to my house Jacob got out and helped me carry my bag to the front door. I looked at him and asked was he going to come in, and he told me that he had to start his patrol soon but he would come by around noon tomorrow and we could hang out and do whatever I wanted to do.

I was sad to see him go, but just as I was about to call his name the front door swung open and my dad yelled, "Isabella Marie Swan, get in here!" I turned back towards Jacob but he was already in his car driving away. I turned back toward my dad and sarcastically replied, "Glad to see you too, dad."

I walked into the house and prepared myself for his anger.

It turned out that once Charlie realized that I didn't come back with Edward hanging on my arm he let my little trip slide with just a warning that if he saw Edward anywhere near our property he would shoot to kill. He then turned on the flat screen and watched the news.

Several hours later I found myself pacing back and forth in my bedroom waiting for Edward to show up. My dad got an emergency call about some hikers being killed and he'd left. He told me not to wait up because he probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning. A sudden breeze came through my window and there was Edward looking at me.

**Edward POV**

I took in Bella's appearance and almost came undone. She didn't have on anything special, just her usual t-shirt and sweats but for some reason she'd never looked and smelled this good to me before. I had an uncontrollable need for her. I knew it had to do with knowing that Jacob Black was a threat to something that I considered mine. The predator in me wanted to take what belonged to _me_.

Standing in front of her I gazed into her eyes and raised my hands to her face to caress her cheeks.

I slowly bent my head down toward her and kissed her. This time she kissed me back. I didn't give her much choice because I didn't hold back the monster inside of me. I treated her like prey and made sure that she was consumed with my smell and hypnotized with my eyes.

My senses took over and I slowly explored every inch of her body. This was something that I'd never allowed myself to do before. In the past, I never wanted to loose control and hurt her. But I needed Bella so much. I needed her to know that I was here to stay this time. I was willing to be what she needed me to be. Whatever it took to make her want me forever, I was willing to do.

I backed her up against the bed, and threw her on it at vampire speed. I didn't give her a chance to fully catch her breath before I continued my assault on her soft, warm lips.

I nuzzled her neck and inhaled her scent. I could feel her pulse beating and it caused me to growl. The smell of her blood was intoxicating and I felt like I couldn't get enough of her.

Rubbing and kneading my cold hands along her warm body intensified the desire that I had for her. I wanted Bella in ways that I had never allowed myself to think of in the past.

Suddenly I heard Bella scream, "Edward, stop! Get off of me, you're hurting me!"

I leapt off of her and stared at her. Why was she looking at me like that? There was fear in her eyes. She was shaking as she pulled her knees up to her chest.

That's when I saw why she looked at me with fear.

What had I done? There were red and purple marks on her neck, chest, and arms. Her shirt was gone and torn to shreds on the floor. I'd hurt her.

I'd done the very thing that I always feared I would do. I lost control and physically hurt her. I backed away from her and whispered, "Bella, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. I lost control. I'm such a monster."

Bella wouldn't look at me as she said, "You're not a monster. I know it was an accident. You'd never hurt me on purpose. "

I didn't deserve her understanding. I didn't deserve her love. I sat in the rocking chair by the window to give Bella some space.

"I didn't come over here to do what I just did; my want for you just took over. I came here to tell you that I love you with all of my heart. I want to spend eternity with you. I want you to be my mate for life. I won't fight you anymore about being changed. Whenever you want to do it I'm ready. It can be today, tomorrow or next week. I won't try to talk you out of it anymore. I just want us to be together."

"Edward, I've been thinking. I don't know if I still want to be a vampire. I don't want to have to die to spend the rest of my life with my soul mate. I think I might want to go to college, get married, and have children. I'm a little confused right now."

Bella began to bite her bottom lip. I stood up and said, "Well, I guess it's time for me to go. Bye, Bella, I love you."

She didn't say anything or look at me so I left. I ran through the woods with a heavy dead heart and didn't stop until I made it to the treaty line.

**Jacob POV**

Why was Cullen at the treaty line? Jared informed me that the leech was pacing back and forth along the line. I guessed that he must want to talk to me. I knew this was coming. So I ran to the treaty line and Edward stopped pacing.

I decided that I wasn't going to block my thoughts. If Edward wanted to poke around in my head then so be it.

I didn't know a vampire could look tired and defeated but he did. He looked up at me and said, "So that's it. You've imprinted on Bella. That's why she doesn't love me anymore. You may not have told her about imprinting on her but she feels it. She needs and wants you. Trust me, I just tried to make her forget you but it didn't work. Just promise me that you will love her and take care of her and give her the happiness she deserves."

"So you expect me to believe that you're willing to give up just like that?"

Edward ran his fingers through his hair and said, "Good-bye, Jacob Black, please tell Bella that I will always love her and I'm not mad at her."

With a blink of an eye Edward was gone.

**Thanks for reading and your reviews. This story is kicking my butt left and right. I get whipped by my betas every chapter. It's a struggle trying to follow the betas instructions when I know that if I do it would change the course of the story that I had already written. I really didn't want to do that because this was my first fanfiction and I wanted to keep it as close to what I originally wrote as possible. Thank you Coldcomfort4 and Twilightrocks122**

**See you next chapter**


	5. Chapter 5 My Imprint

**Bella POV**

I woke up nightmare-free but every muscle in my body was sore and there was a chill as cold as the arctic set deep into my bones. Last night's events evaded my mind and I shuddered as I thought about what Edward had almost done to me.

In all of our time together, Edward had always treated me like a fragile piece of china that had to be handled delicately He never came close to losing control like he'd done last night because Edward kept his monster at bay. He always kept me at a distance and refused for us to get too close physically. It was a part of him that he had never wanted me to witness.

Before Edward left me broken and alone in the forest, I was obsessed with the thought of being a part of his world. I needed Edward like a coke addict needed their next line of cocaine. Every time we were together, what he was willing to offer me was never enough. I found myself always attempting to burst through the wall of safety that he held between us.

I understood now exactly what Edward meant when he told me how vampires had the ability to draw in their prey. Like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding car, my ability to take control of the situation was nonexistent. I didn't want to kiss him, and I didn't want him touching me. But the ability to stop him was not there.

Suddenly, thinking about the betrayal that I would see reflected in Jacob's eyes if he saw Edward and I like this gave me the strength to claw my way through the fog that had captured my mind. The numbing effect he had on me was gone and that was when I realized Edward had emotionally and physically been hurting me.

His weight had me pressed down into the bed; he grabbed me so tightly that it felt like I would be snapped in two. Edward's razor-sharp teeth grazed the side of my neck. He growled and his eyes were black as coal as he looked at me with nothing but lust and hunger. His expression plainly said that he was either going to give into his natural vampire instincts and kill me or he would change me. Thankfully, my scream had been enough for him to gain control of himself. Edward moved away from me quickly and the horror and disgust that I saw as he looked at me caused me to wonder if today would be the last time I saw his face.

I slowly rolled out of the bed and decided to take a shower. Thinking about how Edward assaulted my body last night caused me to feel violated. Having the hot water run down my body would help purify the horrid thoughts that clung to my mind.

Once I was in the bathroom I took my clothes off and looked in the mirror. The image looking back at me was horrific: My neck, arms, around my breasts, and the upper part of my thighs were a mass of black and purple bruises. Neither Charlie nor Jacob could see this. I didn't want to think about what they would do if they ever saw Edward again. Charlie couldn't hurt Edward but he didn't need to get a heart attack trying to shoot him and witness the bullets bounce off like Superman. Jacob would hunt Edward down until he found him and then they would fight until someone was dead.

I stood in the shower for a long time until I started getting goose bumps from the hot water turning cold. I stepped out and wrapped myself up in a towel and walked to my room. I was heading toward my dresser when suddenly, someone growled, "What the hell happened to you?"

**Jacob POV**

Once I had woken up this morning I'd cleaned my room, eaten breakfast, and ran around the perimeter of La Push four times. I couldn't wait anymore; I had to see Bells. My inner wolf growled when I picked up the bloodsucker's scent near Bella's house. I wanted to kill him when I realized that he had been in her room.

I paced back and forth under her window. I started to panic. Once again I had begun to hope that Bella was going to choose me this time. I went to bed last night with a joyful heart knowing that Bella wanted me in her life. She had told me that she wasn't sure that she wanted the life that the bloodsucker could offer her.

I turned away from her window and began to run back toward the tree line. I abruptly stopped and decided that Bella was worth fighting for. I decided to climb into her room and demand some answers. When I reached her room, I stood against the wall, pissed and nauseous because I smelled the stench of bloodsucker throughout her bedroom.

I heard Bella down the hall taking a shower so I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and slightly relaxed as the scent of her strawberry shampoo filled my nostrils. I knew that I should have waited downstairs until she was dressed, but I needed to know _why_ the leech had been up here in her room.

I heard her cut the shower off and walk toward the room. As she entered and walked toward her dresser, I opened my mouth to make a sarcastic remark about her leech but became incoherent for a moment when I noticed the condition of her body.

Rage poured through me like lava erupting from a volcano which caused my body to shake.

"Bella, what the hell happened to you?"

She jumped and spun around.

Her eyes grew wide and she stumbled backward into the dresser. "It's nothing. It looks worse than it is. It was an accident."

I tilted my head sideways and walked toward her. She attempted to side-step me but I grabbed her wrist. I tilted her chin up with my other hand and looked at her neck, I let go of her wrist and slid my hands down her shoulders and arms. I gently pushed her away from me a little and below the towel I could see bruises that were the shape of handprints on her thighs all the way to her knees. I growled when I realized that he had touched Bella in places that only I had a right to touch.

Turning away from Bella, I fought to maintain control and said in a steely calm voice, "Get dressed and meet me downstairs in five minutes." I then walked past Bella and out the door.

I recalled what Edward said about trying to get me out of Bella's mind. What did he do? Beat or rape her? I heard shuffling behind me so I turned around to find Bella fully dressed in a long-sleeved turtle neck and jeans. She was lucky that the weather was cold enough for her outfit to not be suspicious.

She was looking down and her face was a lobster red. Her heart was beating a mile a minute so I could tell that she was very nervous.

"I'm sorry for invading your privacy like that. I had no right. Please don't be ashamed. Not one sexual thought came into my mind. I swear."

Bella walked past me and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Last night Edward kissed me and he lost control. It was not on purpose. His vampire instincts took over and he got a little rough. He was horrified by what he had done and to be honest, I don't think that I will ever see him again."

I sat in the chair next to Bella and said, "Just so you know, I don't care how regretful that leech may be for hurting you. If I ever see him again, I will kill him. You're right, he's not coming back. He met me at the treaty line last night to tell me that he knew trying to rekindle what you guys had would be a waste of time. Bella, there is something that I have to tell you and I hope you will listen with an open mind."

I walked into Bella's living room and sat down on the couch. Bella followed and sat down next to me, waiting for me to speak. I looked at her and said, "Bella, you know that I have had feelings for you since I was about four-years-old. I've always loved you. You've always been a part of my future. There have been no others. There has never been anyone that could take my focus away from you. When you started dating Edward, I figured I was destined to be alone. That's just the way it was going to be."

My nerves were on edge. I felt vulnerable because my future happiness was in Bella's hands. As I continued to talk I was also saying a silent prayer that Bella wouldn't reject me once she knew about the imprint.

"When the leech left and we started hanging out, all I wanted was to be there for you and be your friend but as time went by, I began to hope you would start to let me into your heart.

"Then I went through my transformation and for a while I thought I would not be able to see you again and that broke my heart. It hurt so bad to see you so hurt and at the same time, I was so angry with you when I found out what the Cullen's really were. But we made our way into each other's lives again and during that time, something happened. Bella, I imprinted on you."

Bella looked confused; she shook her head and said, "Wait, what? Did you say you imprinted on me? I don't understand, what is that?"

"The day you came to confront me after my transformation, my world stopped and nothing else mattered except for you and me. You are my perfect match. It's the way that a werewolf finds their mate. I will be connected to you for the rest of my life. If you think about it, since that time you have been drawing closer to me and letting your guard down. You love me Bella and you can feel the pull of the imprint whether you want to admit it or not."

Bella frowned and slumped back onto the couch.

"There's nothing special about me except that I seem to be a danger magnet. How could I be your perfect match? I'm a walking ball of confusion. I'm broken and sometimes I think that I have lost my mind. I honestly don't think I could have a healthy relationship. Jacob, I don't deserve your love. You're good, fun and happy. You have a wonderful outlook on life. People are drawn to you. You could do so much better than me."

I opened my mouth to cut her off and stop her from putting herself down but she raised her hand to silence me.

**Bella POV**

I really didn't know what to say. This was a shock to me. Jacob imprinted on me. I do remember that day and he was right. My feelings for him had been changing. I felt a pull toward him and ever since then I couldn't seem to be away from him for too long. I needed his warmth, his smile and his presence.

I thought it was because we were best friends and he was there to help put me back together. I was so distracted by Edward that I didn't allow myself to think that my heart was healed.

Wow, Jacob and I were destined to be together. I looked at Jacob and I said, "Why are you telling me now? You let me run off into Edward's arms. Why?"

"Bella, my responsibility to you as my imprint is to be what you need me to be. You didn't need a boyfriend, you needed a best friend. The most important thing in my life is to make sure that you are happy and as much as it would have broken my heart, if being with that leech made you happy I would have let you be with him.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to be with me because you loved me, not out of obligation. Even now I'm not telling you this so I could push you into being with me. Just consider the possibility: we are already best friends and we know each other better than we know our own selves. We would be good together, Bella."

I got off the couch and I walked into the kitchen and filled up a pitcher with water. I then walked into the living room where Jacob was. He was looking down at his hands. I guessed he was waiting for me to say something else. I walked up to him and said, "Jacob, look at me please."

He lifted his head up and looked into my eyes. I stared back and then dumped the pitcher of water over his head and yelled as I ran away.

"That's for being in my room without my permission, you perv!"

Before I could reach the back door, Jacob grabbed me by the waist and spun me around.

**Jacob POV**

After I explained to Bella about imprinting, she walked away and went into the kitchen, my heart was racing a mile a minute; I needed to know what she was thinking. Did I make the right choice telling her? Did I explain it right to her? Did she even believe me? She walked out of the kitchen and toward me. I was scared to see the reaction in her eyes so I looked down. Then she said, "Jacob, look at me."

I raised my head and looked into her eyes. She dumped a pitcher of water on my head and ran off laughing. It was payback for me staring at her while she was only covered with a towel. I got off the couch and ran after her. I caught her before she could run out the back door. I grabbed her by the waist and spun her around so that she was facing me.

I forgot about getting her back for wetting me because I was distracted by the fact that I had Bella in my arms. I realized all I wanted to do at this moment was kiss her.

I didn't care about being cautious, the right lighting, or fireworks in the air.

I'd waited a very long time for this moment and I was going to enjoy it. I took my hands from her waist and placed a hand on each side of her face and tilted her head toward me as our lips connected.

I kissed her with all the built up passion and love that I'd been holding back from her for years and at that moment, it felt like I was taking a breath for the first time ever. I slid my hands away from her face and I wrapped them around her waist and pulled her closer to me. She placed her hands on my chest and grabbed a fist full of my shirt as she kissed me back. I planned on having Bella in my arms like this for the rest of our lives.

**If I knew what was good for me I would end the story here…but there is more so stay tuned! Thanks for the reviews and thank you SayGoodbyeAgain and SCprincessSC for helping with this chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6 Too Good To Be True

**Aro POV**

Caius looked at Aro with irritation and said," You have already made up your mind to let her live, so send Carlisle the letter and let's move on."

"But Caius, don't you want to hunt and kill the werewolves?"

Caius raised his hand and huffed. "Those aren't werewolves. Those are _shape-shifters_. They aren't worth my time."

"But they are designed to kill our kind."

"You've seen it through Carlisle's thoughts. They are bound to protect their lands. The loss of one or two vampires isn't worth my time."

"But we could wipe out the whole town and assure that no future generations will spring up."

Caius stood up and began to walk away. "I'm not interested. Go write your letter."

The drama of the Cullen family was like watching a soap opera. I'd been so fascinated the past couple of days, but now it was becoming too human for me, so it was time to be done with it.

I possessed a power that most vampires knew about. When I touched someone I saw every thought that had ever occurred over their life span. It was a useful gift to have but wasn't the most powerful gift that I possessed.

Once I touched someone, my thoughts could merge with the person I touched thoughts with. When I was done observing that person's mind, I could tune them out and the connection would be gone. I kept this power a secret. Luckily, mind readers like Edward couldn't hear me think about it. It was like it didn't exist. No one can explain why I'm able to block that particular gift from mind readers. So, since Edward, Isabella, and Alice had left Italy, I'd been keeping tabs on them. I wanted to see when they changed Isabella and what her gifts turned out to be.

I got more information than I expected to ever get. The legend of shape shifters- was, in fact, true. Somehow Isabella was involved with one. According to Edward's thoughts they loved each other. I could see how that situation would play out. I should just go on and have her killed now for not keeping her end of the bargain, but Isabella was not a typical human. I believed that she would never talk of our existence. She almost went crazy keeping it to herself when Edward left her. She was tied to the shape-shifter for life and she was bound to keep his secret also.

I felt gracious today. Isabella Swan could keep her human life.

**Carlisle POV**

I was sitting in my study holding a letter that had just arrived from the Volturi. I opened it and realized that it was from Aro. It said:

_Hello, Carlisle, _

_I hope that all is well with you and your family. _

_I'm sure you know about the agreement that Edward and Alice made with me regarding changing Isabella into a vampire in the near future. Well, it's come to my attention that even though Edward and Alice are still willing to follow through, Isabella is having second thoughts. This goes against the agreement that we have and we now have the right to come and destroy her. I'm writing to let you know that the Volturi have decided to look the other way in this matter and pretend that Isabella Swan does not exist._

_Our only condition is that you do not allow Edward to fall in love with another human unless he is willing to change them immediately. We won't be so merciful next time._

_Aro_

I really didn't know what to say. The Volturi didn't give second chances and they didn't bend rules and look the other way. I was thankful; I couldn't express how relieved I was to read this letter.

I decided to call a family meeting but by the time I came downstairs, everyone was already sitting at the dining room table. I looked at Alice and said, "Thank you."

I looked toward everyone else and said, "Well, I called you all here to let you know that I just read a letter that Aro sent me. Somehow he knew that Bella had changed her mind about being a vampire. They decided to look the other way and not do anything about it and let her live.

I looked at Edward. "Would you care to tell me what is going on between you and Isabella? Aro wrote something about her being tied to a shape shifter; what was he talking about?"

Edward rubbed his hand through is hair and said, "He's talking about Billy Black's son. He imprinted on Bella and she started to realize that she had feelings for him. She told me that she didn't know if she still wanted to become a vampire and that she was confused. I ruined everything when I left her."

I squeezed Edward's shoulder. "Well, from what I've read about imprinting it would not have mattered if you left or not. Once the shape shifter imprinted on her that was it. Bella will be relieved to know that she won't have the Volturi hanging over her head. Edward would you like to be the one to tell her?"

Edward stood up and walked toward the window and looked outside and he said, "Yes, I'll tell her."

Alice sat silently for a moment in a trance but suddenly opened her eyes wide and said, "Edward THAT will never work. Please don't even think about trying that. If you do I can guarantee you won't even be able to be friends with her. You will ruin any chance of us being friends with her. When she calls me tonight I will tell her myself."

Edward said very slowly, "Do... not… tell… her… anything about this. I will tell her when I am ready, when I see fit for her to know. Butt out Alice and let me deal with this my way."

Alice wasn't easily intimidated and she stood on her tip toes to get closer to Edward's face. "Why would you want to prolong this unnecessary worry? Are you trying to punish her for moving on with her life and doing what you told her to do in the first place? Grow up, Edward; you don't have the right to try and punish Bella."

Edward didn't respond. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

I looked at Alice and asked, "What was he thinking about doing, Alice?" She shook her head and replied, "Something very stupid."

**Bella POV**

So much had happened in the past three months since I found out that Jacob imprinted on me. Jacob and I both graduated from high school. It came as a complete surprise to me about Jacob because he was two grades lower than me. He explained that when the Cullen's came back to Forks, the Elders knew that would cause the Quileute males with the wolf gene to start phasing. They decided that every male and female from the age of twelve on up would go through an accelerated teaching program that would have them done with high school at a faster rate. So Jacob got to graduate the same year as me.

I got several acceptance letters for college, but the one I was happiest about was the one I got from Western Washington University. I would only be four hours away from Forks. I could come home every weekend to see my family and friends.

Jacob was very excited for me and was happy that I wouldn't be too far away. Being away from him for a whole five days every week seemed unbearable but we both knew that we would work through it.

Because of Jacob's werewolf status he couldn't go away to college and leave the Quileute reservation. But he was hired as a mechanic at a shop in Forks. Ever since he started working there, business had doubled. It didn't take long for customers to spread the word about how good and honest Jake was as a mechanic. The owner was very pleased with Jacob's talent with cars and thought that Jake had a real future there.

I felt bad that Jacob had to be tied to the rez and he wouldn't have the chance to experience college life but, at least he was doing something that he really liked and he was good at.

Even though Jacob and I had several fights about it I called Alice almost every day. The Cullen's did not live in New York anymore but had moved back to Alaska. They had their own place instead of living with the Denali Coven. Alice, Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme came to my graduation and stayed for a couple of days after. Of course, they lavished me with gifts and refused to let me refuse them. I let Alice open the envelope for me. Inside was a letter that stated my college tuition was totally paid for, I was now the owner of a 2010 Audi A5, and they gave me a Cullen credit card that had no limit.

Charlie, Jacob, and I were speechless when we found out what the Cullen's had given me. It was just too over the top. I was not with Edward anymore but yet they still treated me like a member of the family. Getting the new car came in handy because two days after graduation, my truck died. I'm sure Alice saw that coming and knew that I wouldn't have a choice but to accept their gift.

Edward and I hadn't spoken since the night he was in my room. Alice and I had talked about Edward and she has assured me that he was coping with us not being together. He wasn't isolating himself. He played the piano a lot and every time Alice got off the phone with me he wanted to know how I was doing and if I was still happy.

The last time I talked to Alice though, I did get some of the best news from her. She told me that I didn't have to worry about the Volturi anymore. Aro decided to let me live even though I chose not to become one of them. So that was one less thing I had to worry about. Also, Victoria had not been around since the day I jumped off the cliff. No one believed that she had given up; we just thought she was trying to rethink her strategy.

Ever since the day that Jacob kissed me, things with us have been wonderful. Our relationship was public knowledge to everyone. If I wasn't at his house he'd be at mine. Charlie was over the top with happiness that I chose to be with Jacob. Billy was relieved that I had changed my mind about being a vampire in time. He was very welcoming when I come over and we got along great. Billy, Jacob and my dad weren't too happy with the fact that I still socialized with the Cullen's but since my relationship had pretty much excluded Edward it made it a bit more tolerable.

The last time the Cullen's were here they had a meeting with Sam and told him where they were living and that their visits would be few and far between. It was decided that I would not be allowed to go to Alaska to visit them or go on any trips with them. Although no one attempted to force me to end my friendship with the Cullen's it was made clear that I was considered to be a part of the pack and therefore I had to be prepared to adapt to the pack's way of doing things.

They knew the Cullen's would never be my enemy but since I was Jacob's imprint I had to take his feelings and duties to me into consideration. So that meant no more shopping trips with Alice and a pack member had to be with me when I saw them in person. Sam had to be informed ahead of time if they did decide to come for a visit. The final agreement was that when they did pay a visit they would not bring Edward with them.

The day before Sam met with the Cullen's he came over to my house and we had a talk. He explained to me about the meeting that they were going to have. He asked me would I have a problem with the request that Edward not be allowed to come along with them to visit. I was honest and said I knew that would hurt Edward if I agreed to that, but my loyalty was with Jacob and the pack. If they saw fit to ban Edward then I would go along with it. I could tell by the look in Sam's eyes that he was pleased with my answer.

Jacob and I talked about our future all of the time. We knew that one day we would get married and have lots of children. When that would happen I didn't know. Our commitment to each other was so strong that there was no rush. We knew that we would be together for the rest of our lives. Every time I thought about Jacob I got butterflies in my stomach. When he wasn't here I longed for his touch. He was created just for me and I thrived in his presence. He was my Jacob and I was his Bella totally forever and ever.

**Jacob POV**

"Sam, are you sure you want to do this? I've always been upfront how I felt about being Alpha, I don't really want it. You are doing a great job, you are a good leader and I don't have a problem being your Beta."

"Jacob, I know that you don't want to be in charge of the pack, but you can't run from the fact that you are the true Alpha. Everyone knows it and I'm surprised that the Elders haven't demanded that you take your rightful place. Especially since you are imprinted, your transformation is complete.

"I'm about to get married at the end of the year. I know Emily will want to have children right away. I just want to be able to focus on her a little bit more. She has been very good about all of the time I've had to spend doing pack stuff. I want to be able to be with her more. You are ready, Jacob, so at the end of the summer I would like to make the change. That will give you and Bella time to get used to the idea. It'll give you time to pick a Beta."

"Sam, wouldn't you just be my Beta?"

"No, I just want to be a wolf in the pack."

Wow, I had a lot to think about. Alpha was such a big responsibility, but I knew this day would come. I couldn't run away from it forever. Fear tried to tell me that I wasn't ready to claim my birthright. I knew my Dad would be happy to know about this. Sam was right, the Elders had been very good about giving me time to get adjusted and realize on my own that I was the true leader of the pack. So all I had to do was tell Bella and hopefully she would be okay with it.

**Thanks for the reviews and story alerts. I will be introducing a new character into the story within the next couple of chapters. Thank you Twilightrocks122 and owlsarebirdstoo for your beta help. **

_**Also my other story "The Alpha's Imprint has been nominated for an award at Toxic Lautner Online (dot) com**_

_**It's a great site. If you get a chance please vote for my story. There are also a lot of other great stories on there also. **_


	7. Chapter 7 Raven

**Edward POV**

It had been three months since I walked out of Bella's life. I silently tormented myself day and night about how I ruined the only ray of hope I'd ever experienced since I became a vampire. I frequently thought back to the time when James had bitten Bella, and I struggled with regret that I had stopped her from going through the transformation. At the same time, I knew that Bella's continued status as a human was for the best. I had no right to want to inflict my cursed life on anyone else.

I wasn't surprised to be banned from ever seeing Bella again. I knew Jacob Black doubted my word that I would stay out of her life for good. I saw Jacob Black's mind as we stood on either side of the treaty line, and I knew that it was ingrained in him to never trust his enemy. His thoughts were very loud and clear. He believed that at the first opportunity that came about, I would kidnap Bella and disappear with her. His fears were true. The selfish part of me had considered kidnapping and changing her, but Alice had seen the outcome, and that was the end of that plan. I was relieved that Alice was there to protect me from myself because the outcome of that plan would have been tragic.

I knew as long as Bella was in Forks or La Push, there would be no access to her. So I'd planned to ask Bella to secretly meet me in Seattle. Once she arrived, I would have lied and told her that Alice had a vision that the Volturi would be coming to check and see if she had been changed. If she wasn't, then they would have made her watch them kill Charlie, changed Bella themselves and took her to back to Italy with them. I thought if I involved Charlie, then it would have caused her to willingly come with me to be changed so her father would have been safe. Alice showed me what the outcome would have been if I'd gone through with it.

However, Bella wouldn't go along with my plan. She would have refused to be changed and would have attempted to leave to go back to Jacob. Bella had faith that Jacob and the rest of the La Push pack would keep her and Charlie protected from the Volturi. I was consumed with jealous rage that she had chosen to put all her trust in that mutt instead of me, so I had decided to force the change anyway. Once she had transformed, Bella was so filled with anger and bitterness that she would curse the day she had ever met me. Once Bella had her bloodlust under control, she would go back to Forks. Jacob would be devastated because now she was his mortal enemy.

Everyone would know that she was changed against her will but the result would be the same. Bella would be as good as dead to Jacob, and no matter how hard he tried, the wolf inside of him would never allow himself to get past her vampire state. Whatever human feelings that Bella had left would die when Jacob rejected her and sent her away. She would leave Forks for good and join the Volturi. Of course, the Volturi would be furious with what I'd done because I went against their wishes. The Cullen clan _and_ werewolves would be wiped out to prove a point. Which was: don't disobey the Volturi.

I promised Alice that I wouldn't go through with my plan. I gave her my consent to call Bella and tell her that the Volturi were not expecting her to go through the change anymore. She would have the human life that she wanted.

After I had given my fateful consent, I spent a lot of time playing the piano and taking walks outside. Today was a sunny day, but where we lived the chances of a human seeing any of us was very unlikely. I ran though the forest and came to a halt when I smelled the scent of another vampire. I found myself inhaling deeply as I realized that the scent caused feelings inside of me that I thought I'd never feel again. I continued to move forward, and there she was, sitting on a rock looking toward a river that rushed past her. She had a sketch pad on her lap and was drawing something.

I stood still quietly for a few minutes and didn't say anything. I waited for her to acknowledge my presence but she didn't turn around to look at me. Just when I was about to introduce myself, she said, "Hello, my name is Raven. Please don't think that I'm being rude, I just want to finish this before I turn around to see you face-to-face. I want to know if I got this right."

I found her comment to be a bit strange, but I didn't say anything. I continued to wait patiently for her to finish. After about five minutes she sighed. "I'm finally done, come here and tell me what you think."

I walked toward her and looked over her shoulder; I couldn't believe the picture that I saw. It was a sketch of me! It looked so life-like that it was unbelievable. The detail was amazing. I asked, "How did you do that? You never turned around to look at me! How did you draw me so perfectly?"

Raven responded, "I have the ability to see the future. I saw you coming so I decided to draw a portrait of you. I must say you are very handsome."

Raven finally stood up and turned around. If I still had the ability to breathe she would have taken my breathe way. I didn't think that I had ever seen a vampire as beautiful as her. She had wild black curly hair that stopped at her shoulders, almond shaped eyes that that radiated warmth, a soft delicate small nose, and smooth looking lips. She was almost as tall as me and very slim. She was the definition of beauty and Raven's eyes were amber like mine. I had never thought that I would look at another woman and be attracted to them as much as I had been to Bella, but I felt a connection with Raven that I had never felt before, not even with Bella.

Raven stared at me with a smile on her face and said, "What is your name, stranger?"

I shook my head and realized that I'd been staring at her like a love sick puppy. "My name is Edward, Edward Cullen."

Raven smiled as she stepped toward me. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Edward Cullen. What are you doing out here in the forest? "

"I was going for a run. I live a couple of miles away from here with the rest of my family."

"You live around here? In a _house_ like humans do? What do you mean with your family- you mean your coven, right? You don't live with humans do you?"

"Yes, I live around here. It's a coven, but we care about each other very much and we consider ourselves a family, like I said. Of course, I don't live with humans. I'm a vampire, remember. That wouldn't be very wise. I couldn't help but notice the color of your eyes. Than you hunt animals instead of human blood. Since you don't seem to keen on human relationships than why are you a vegetarian?"

"I guess it's a gift or a curse, depending on how you look at it. I detest the taste of human blood. I get the same reaction that I would get if I eat human food. I can't even stand the smell of it. For some reason though, I do like the taste of animal blood. I get the craving for blood but only animal blood. Please don't misunderstand me, I don't hate humans. I just don't have the desire to befriend them."

"Are you alone, or are you traveling with other vampires?"

"It's just me, I used to belong to a coven that included the vampire that made me and we were together for a while but we grew apart so I decided to go my own way."

I didn't want our conversation to end, so I asked, "Would you like to come with me and meet my family?"

Raven agreed that she would come back with me to my house, but we would have to drive there because she didn't want to leave her car. It was about five miles away from where we were standing. As we ran, it dawned on me that I couldn't read her mind. What was it about the minds of the women I seemed to be attracted to? How were they able to block their thoughts from me?

Once we approached her car I was impressed: it was a red Cooper Countryman. They weren't even on the market in the US yet, so how did she have one?

"I like your car; how did you get your hands on this and they are not even out yet?"

"Well, Edward, I'm a vampire and can be very persuasive when I want to be, especially when it comes to the opposite sex. The car salesman was glad to jump through hoops to get me this car once I asked very nicely."

Raven tossed the keys at me and said I could drive. I got in the driver's side and we took off. I looked at Raven and said, "I haven't gotten to tell you about my gift. I can read minds, but I have noticed that I cannot read yours. Do you know why that is?"

"I'm a shield; I have the ability to block my thoughts from others at will. Whenever I'm in a new environment I have the shield up. I don't like being at a disadvantage and I also like my privacy. But for those who I know and I trust I can let my shield down. If they are mind readers they can know whatever they want. Maybe if you're really nice to me I might let you in."

My hands tightened around the steering wheel and I felt a warm sensation flow through my body. I felt like there was a double-edged meaning behind what she said. I'd just met Raven but I thought that there was a possibility that I may have found love again.

We arrived at my house and got out of the car. Alice was on the porch jumping up and down thinking, _"This is great, my brother will to be happy again, oh my goodness and she has great fashion sense. Oh, we will have to go shopping!"_

Once we reached Alice I said, "Alice this is Raven, Raven this is Alice, my sister."

Alice shook Raven's hand and said, "Raven, it's very nice to meet you. I knew you were coming and I've already got your room ready for you."

Raven smiled and said, "Thank you."

We walked into the house and I was shocked to see that everyone was home. Then it occurred to me that Alice must have seen us coming and told everyone to wait for us in the living room

I looked around the room and said, "Everyone, this is Raven. We met while I was going for a run."

I squeezed Raven's arm and said, "Raven, I would like you to meet my family." I began to point everyone out to her. Everyone welcomed her. Even Rose was pleasant and gave her a genuine smile. We were all curious about her background so she was kind enough to share it with us.

"_I was sixteen when I was turned. I'd been in this immortal body for thirty-three years. To most vampires I was still considered a child still but I'd had my share of experiences. For most vampires once they were turned they forgot their human lives and for the most part I had, but I'll never forget the week that led to my human death and the birth of my vampire existence. _

_It was a Monday night and I had just finished up a report at the library for school. It had started to get dark outside and my father was due to pick me up. So I packed up my books and went outside to wait. While I was outside, the sun was setting and I noticed a man standing across the street from me. He was staring at me and I found myself staring back at him. He had me mesmerized by his beauty. This stranger was tall with black shoulder length hair that had a mild wildness to it. He was very pale and muscular. I felt drawn to him. I was overcome with the need to cross the street and talk to him. He smirked at me and motioned with his head to come to him._

_I forgot about who I was and that my father was on his way to come and pick me up. I stepped off of the curve and was on my way to my death and didn't know it. Suddenly, I heard my name being called and it snapped me out of my trance. I turned toward the voice and realized that it was one of my friends from school. I waved at her and turned back around but the man was gone._

_I didn't think much of it after that. I never told anyone about what I almost did. The week went by with no incidents and then it was Friday night. I was dating this guy that I had known for a couple of months. We met at a high school dance at his school and we liked each other very much. We went to the movies and saw "Audrey Rose." We were on our way to my boyfriend's car when all of a sudden the same guy from Monday stood in front of us. Instead of me being fascinated by his looks I was horrified by his blood red eyes. _

_I knew that my boyfriend and I were going to die. I remembered feeling a piercing pain when he bit my neck and a sudden overwhelming burning sensation that overtook my body. I remembered wanting to die so that the pain would go away. I mourned my human life but the vampire that made me never left my side. He guided me and taught me the ways of the vampire. He explained to me that when he ran across my scent while I stood in front of the library, he knew that he had to have me for his own. _

_I resented him for a long time. He didn't give me a choice to want to be with him. Over time I did fall in love with him and we spent many years together and were happy. He helped me to fine tune my gifts which were to see the future and my ability as a shield. The only conflict that we had was that I couldn't drink human blood. I reacted to it the way I reacted to eating human food. I could drink animal blood but that was it. He didn't like it and he felt that it was all in my mind and I didn't want to fully accept what I was. _

_After a while we ran into another couple and we became a coven. We drifted from place to place. Then one day I decided that I didn't want to be with my mate anymore. I told him good-bye and I left. We haven't crossed paths again. I've been on my own for about ten years now going from place to place. I've always liked to draw so I have lots of sketches of people and places that I have been." _

Carlisle told Raven that she was more than welcome to stay with us for as long as she wanted to. She accepted and he told her the rules that we lived by. We were all confident that she wouldn't be a problem so that was more of just a formality.

I went with Raven to her car and helped her take out a couple of suit cases and showed her to her room. I stood in her doorway and watched her unpack her belongings. When she was done she sat down and patted the space next to her. I walked into her room and sat next to her. Raven looked at me and said, "So, Edward, what is your story? I don't mean about how you were turned, we can talk about that later. I want to know about why your eyes look so sad… what happened to you to cause you to look so broken?"

**Thank you Twilightrocks122 and Little Miss Mionie for Betaing this chapter. Also thanks for the story alerts and reviews. So…what do you think about Raven?**


	8. Chapter 8 Is This Really My Life?

**Bella POV**

It was hard to believe that summer was almost over. Where had the time gone? Jake and I had been almost inseparable. The only time when we were not together was when I had to work, Jake patrolled or at night when we slept. My dad was a little concerned about how much time Jacob and I spent together, so Charlie had decided he needed to talk with Jacob and I. It was the most embarrassing conversation that Charlie and I had ever had.

Jacob and I were in the living room watching a movie. I had my head on his shoulder with my legs tucked under myself, and he had his arm around my waist. When my dad walked in, we didn't separate. I yelled, "Hey, Dad, how was your day?" He walked into the living room and silently observed Jake and I snuggled together on the couch.

A few moments went by before Charlie said, "My day was going pretty well up until now. Can you guys come into the kitchen, please? We need to have a little talk." Jacob shrugged his shoulders as I looked at him. Jake picked up the remote and paused the movie. Once we stepped into the kitchen, Charlie pointed to the table and told us to have a seat. We sat down and watched Charlie pace back and forth.

He stopped walking and looked at us. "When Bella began hanging out with you, I was so happy and relieved. I saw the life begin to come back into her. I encouraged your relationship. It made me happy to know that Bella had finally let that jerk Edward go and was giving you a chance. I like you, Jacob. You are a good kid and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. I can see how much you care about Bella and that means a lot to me, but as her dad I have to say this. As much as I like you, I don't want to see Bella get hurt.

"When Bella was with Edward her whole life revolved around him. With you things are different. She has a plan for her life. Jacob, you are a part of it, but you are not all of it and I like that. There is no easy way to ask this so I'm just going to be as blunt as possible. Are you guys… um… having sex, and ah…are you being safe?"

I felt humiliated and suddenly very hot. How could Charlie ask us this question? Why did we have to have this conversation at all? I wanted to just disappear and never return. I looked at Charlie and said, "Dad! Could you be anymore embarrassing? I don't want to have this conversation with you. Can we please just drop it?"

"No, Bella, I will not drop it. I'm not ready to be a grandfather, and you guys are not ready to be parents."

Charlie turned toward Jacob and said, "Since Bella seems so closed mouth about this then I will ask you. Are you two having sex? For some reason I didn't worry about this with that Cullen kid. He seemed too up tight and controlled, but you are very touchy-feely with Bella. You are always hugging her, holding her hand, and kissing her in front of me."

Jacob looked like a deer caught in the headlights. He opened his mouth and then closed it several times before flopping back into his chair. Jacob found a piece of imaginary lint on his pants very interesting as he said in a low, embarrassed voice, "Charlie, ever since I was four years old, I knew that I was in love with your daughter. I have never wanted to be with anyone else but her. I love her with all of my heart. There will never be anyone else but her. Bella is my world and all I can do is love, cherish and respect her.

"Bella and I know that we are it for each other. We are each others futures and one day we will get married, have children and make you and my dad grandparents. Bella is my first girlfriend, the first girl that I have kissed and she will be the first and only person I have sex with when the time is right. Bella and I have talked about how far we want this relationship to go and we both decided that we both want our first times to be special and something to remember always, so we are saving ourselves until we get married. I hope that answers your question.

"Yes, I am very affectionate and very attracted to Bella. It's not always easy to control myself but I do because I respect Bella's mind, body, and soul. The affection between us is innocent, and that is why we've been so comfortable expressing our love for each other in the ways that we do in front of you. What you see is as far as we have gone and it's as far as we plan to go."

Charlie was surprised by what Jacob said. That was not what he expected to hear. I couldn't say that I blamed him because that was not a typical teenage boy answer. Charlie walked up to Jacob and gave him a pat on the back and said, "You're alright with me, Son. Billy did a wonderful job with you. I am so glad that Bella chose you." After that day, the relationship with Charlie and Jacob changed. They began to do things together like son's and father's do and he even went on a couple of fishing trips with Charlie and Billy.

August came too quickly and it was time to begin a new phase of my life. In the third week of August I had to move into my dorm and get set up for school. The week of my departure was the hardest week of my life. I didn't want to leave Forks. For once in my life everything was going so well, but everyone was supportive and kind, especially Jacob. As much as I knew he didn't want me to go, Jake only talked about why I needed to go and that once I got there and established a routine, everything would be fine. The night before I left, the pack had a bonfire and it was great. Charlie came and I noticed that he spent a lot of his time talking to Sue Clearwater.

Jacob and I walked on the beach and went to our special log. He gave me a beautiful gold necklace with a heart that had an inscription on it. It said "Que Quowle" which meant "Stay with me forever." The whole pack was at my house the next day along with Emily, Kim, Sue, Billy, and of course, Jacob. Even though my dad was not very emotional, he gave me a big hug and told me he was going to miss me. I hugged and kissed everyone, but saved my Jacob for last. While we clung to each other he whispered, "I will miss you, and remember I love you with all of my heart."

I looked into Jake's eyes and said, "I love you, too." We slowly let go of each other and I got into my car and drove away.

**Jacob POV**

Once Bella left for college, I had to keep myself very busy so I didn't lose my mind. I missed her so much. Even though it had only been week, it felt like it had been years. I knew a lot of what I was going through was because she was my imprint, and being away from her for long periods of time caused me both physical and mental pain. I reminded myself that I only had to make it one more week and she would be back for a weekend visit. I had to be strong for her so that she could focus on school. Just because I couldn't leave La Push to experience the college life didn't mean that I expected the same fate for Bella.

Sam had turned over the Alpha role to me, so now I was in charge of the pack. I would be announcing tonight who my Beta would be. I thought long and hard about it and had decided that it should be Leah. She had come a long way with all she had had to deal with. She had come to grips with what happened between Sam and Emily, and realized that there was nothing that anyone could have done to prevent what happened.

Leah was actually nice to Emily now and they had begun to spend time together again. She was more comfortable around Sam and even her thoughts when she was phased were more pleasant, but Leah was still a hard core she-wolf. No one could get one over on her and I knew that she would have my back which made her the best choice. I didn't foresee anyone having a problem with my decision. Work was also going great. I loved my job and my boss was very happy with my mechanical skills.

There hadn't been any vampire activity at all. Raggedy Anne hadn't made an appearance in a long time. The Cullen fortuneteller was keeping an eye on her, though just in case she tried something while Bella was at school, but from what the short vamp could tell so far, Victoria didn't seem to know that Bella wasn't in Forks. I had to say that life was good and in about another week it would be better when my Bella came home for a visit.

**Alice POV**

How could someone make such a difference in someone's life? We all thought that Edward losing Bella was going to destine him to a life of loneliness. We never thought that he would be willing to let anyone else into his heart. But somehow, Raven did it. It wasn't even hard. It was almost like love at first sight.

They talked for hours on end about everything you could imagine. Raven sat with Edward for hours while he played the piano. They went hunting together, they read to each other, they play fought together and he watched her sketch all kinds of things.

I had a vision that Raven and I were going to go shopping, so I stopped by her room to find out when she wanted to go. She was sitting on her bed staring at a sketch she had drawn. Raven looked upset about it. I rushed into the room and asked her what was wrong, because I knew that sometimes she drew things that she saw in the future. She didn't say anything, but instead, she gave me the picture. What I saw made me gasp. Not from fear but excitement. It was Raven and Edward standing hand and hand facing each other. He was in a tuxedo and she was in a wedding grown.

**Bella POV**

I'd just gotten off the phone with Alice and she had some exciting news. Edward was getting married! Over the past couple of months when I had talked to Alice, she talked about Raven and Edward nonstop. I was glad to know that Edward had found love again. It helped to validate that me wanting to stay human was the right choice. Edward and I weren't meant to be soul mates after all. I was relieved because he deserved to be as happy as I was. Their wedding was set for April of next year. Of course, Alice was excited because she now had a wedding to plan, and Raven liked to shop like Alice so I could only imagine how over the top this wedding was going to be. It was too bad that I wouldn't be able to attend. They were going to have the ceremony in Alaska and I had hoped that maybe if it would have only been the Cullen clan then I could have convinced Jacob to take me, but they were inviting all of their vampire friends and not all of them were vegetarian, so there was no way Jacob would have allowed me to be around a bunch of human-drinking vampires. Alice said she would send me pictures.

Sam and Emily got married last month. It was a wonderful ceremony, and Emily was a beautiful bride. Watching them get married made the thought of Jacob and I being married even more exciting. I knew with all of my heart that Jacob would be my husband some day. I couldn't wait for the day when I could wake up every morning in his arms and have his children.

I was studying for my last final exam, which I would be taking tomorrow. Then I was on my way home to Forks to spend my Christmas vacation with the ones I loved.

**Jacob POV**

The time was going too slow. I guess it was because I couldn't wait until tomorrow. Bella would be home and we would have three weeks to spend together before she had to go back to school. My boss was very gracious and let me take three weeks off for Christmas. I'd done so much overtime and was responsible for a lot of his increase in business that he decided to give me the time off as a reward. So besides my alpha duties, Bella would have me all to herself.

Of course, I knew that I would have to share her. Everyone else was excited about her coming home also. Emily and Leah already had a couple of girls night outs planned and Charlie had a special dinner planned for her since she was coming home. He also wanted to tell Bella that he was in love with Sue Clearwater this dinner would be a chance for Bella to see her dad and Sue together.

I had a special Christmas present for Bella. The Cullens were coming to visit Forks for Christmas and Edward was coming with them.

**Thanks for your reviews and story alerts, so next chapter Bella will get to meet Raven. Jake has mellowed out a lot! Thanks Twilightrocks122 and Bella_Barbaric for betaing this chapter! **_**Twilightrocks122**_** is my semi-permanent beta.**


	9. Chapter 9 Good Intentions Gone Wrong

**Bella POV**

Instead of sleeping until the afternoon like I planned, Jacob forced me out of my slumber with a six-thirty wake-up call. He said he had a surprise for me, and I had to be dressed and ready in thirty minutes.

Jacob knew that I didn't like surprises, so he wasn't deterred by my lack of enthusiasm about venturing out at the crack of dawn and not knowing what we would be doing. I took a quick shower and got dressed. There wasn't time to blow dry my hair, so I put a little gel in it to give it a wet, curly look. I had just enough time to apply a little eye-liner and lip gloss to bring a little life to my complexion.

As I stumbled down the stairs and to the hallway closet to get my jacket, I could hear Jacob knocking at the front door. I hurried and opened the door to let him in. Jacob scooped me off the floor and gave me a bunch of wet, messy kisses all over my face. I attempted to push away from him and said, "Please stop. That's so gross!"

Jacob laughed, gave me a peck on the lips, and then put me down.

"Bells, you look nice. I'm tempted to change our plans and stay right here to spend the day with you."

"Oh, no you don't, Jacob Black; you woke me up and had me get ready, so we are going somewhere today."

Jacob shrugged his shoulders and helped me put on my jacket as we walked to his truck. Once we were both inside the truck, we drove off.

"So where are we going?"

"We were invited to have breakfast at the Cullens' house."

I must have heard Jacob incorrectly. He had to tolerate the Cullens' presence in Forks when they came to visit because of the treaty and he knew they were important to me, but Jacob had never voluntarily taken me to their house to hang out. It was very hard for him to be civil to them because by nature they were supposed to be his enemy.

So I said, "What do you mean we are going to have breakfast with the Cullens? You shake when you are in the same room with them, and their smell is unbearable to you. Do you mean that you are dropping me off and I am having brunch with them?"

Jake shrugged his shoulders. "They called me and invited us to come over to have breakfast and hang out. The Cullens are your friends and I know they mean a lot to you. We have three weeks to spend together, and I plan to spend as much time with you as possible. If that means that I have to endure a little vampire stench for a couple of hours I'll do it. Give me a little credit, Bella, I can be civil. I've been on my best behavior in the past, haven't I?"

"Yeah, you have. Thank you for being such a good boyfriend, it means a lot to me."

As we pulled into the Cullens' long drive way, I saw Alice and Esme waiting for us at the front door. We got out of the car and walked toward the house. Alice smiled and said, "Bella, it's great to see you again."

Esme gave me a hug and told me how much she'd missed me. Alice and Esme both took the time to say hello to Jacob. They respected his personal space and didn't attempt to get too close to him. I could imagine it was just as hard for them to stay calm in Jake's presence as it was for him.

We walked into the house and everyone was in the living room. I gave Jacob's hand a squeeze and looked up to give him an assuring smile. This was a big step for him. Not only did he bring me here to see his sworn enemy, but he also came here without another member of his pack for back-up.

Alice stood beside me and said that there was a surprise for me in the kitchen. I looked at Jacob to make sure that he would be okay with me leaving him in the living room with the Cullens. He nodded his head and I walked into the kitchen. For a moment, I didn't know what to do because I thought that I was seeing things, and it caused a chill to go up my spine.

Edward was leaning against the counter smiling at me. He was still just as beautiful as he was the last time I saw him. The only difference now was that he looked truly happy and relaxed.

I smiled and exclaimed, "Edward, what are you doing here? I never thought I'd get to ever see you again! How did you manage this?"

My eyes got wide, and I quickly looked toward the kitchen door and whispered, "Does Jacob know that you are here?"

Edward laughed and said, "Calm down, Bella, yes Jacob knows that I am here. He is the one who invited me. Since you won't be able to come to my wedding, I have come here so that you can meet Raven. Plus, I wanted to see for myself that you are indeed happy with the choice you made."

For a moment, I felt like I was back in time. Feelings that I had for Edward when I first met him slowly resurfaced. I realized that I was still attracted to him. One question suddenly raced through my mind. _"Did I make the right choice? This could be my one and only chance to change my mind and go back to Edward if I wanted to."_

I thought about Jacob and knew if I left him it would crush him. I realized just as quickly that leaving Jacob would crush me also. I knew that what I was feeling toward Edward was nothing but old, unresolved feelings that needed to be put to rest once and for all. We never really got closure because Edward took the coward's way out and left the job of saying good-bye for him to Jacob.

I didn't walk toward Edward but instead said, "You did it again, Edward, you decided for me whether we would be together or not. You promised me that you would not leave me unless I asked you to. The last time we talked I said that I was confused, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to be a vampire anymore. You should have stuck around and gave me a chance to decide whether I wanted to say good-bye or not."

Edward's smile disappeared and he said, "Bella, you're not being fair. When you ran into Jacob's arms at the airport your actions spoke very clearly. I realized then that you and I were over. I could see it in your eyes, Bella, you were done with us. But even at that moment I was still willing to fight for you. I was willing to do whatever it took to win your love back, but then I read Jacob's thoughts and knew that I did not have a chance.

"Jacob's thoughts are very vivid, and I was able to see exactly what I had done to you when I left very clearly. I broke you, and Jacob put you back together. I saw the lost, dead look in your eyes as Sam carried you out of the woods the day I left you after the incident with Jasper. I saw the zombie-like state you were in when you started going to Jacob's house to hang out. It hurt to see for myself how much I had damaged you instead of protecting you I like had I intended.

"Please don't ever think that I walked away from you. I also saw that he imprinted on you, and even though you knew nothing about imprinting, you were responding to the pull he had toward you. I could not compete with that kind of supernatural bond, and I would never stand in the way of you spending your life with your true soul mate."

I was at a loss for words. The past didn't really matter anyway because we both had moved on and were with our soul mates. So I closed the distance between us and gave Edward a great big hug. Just then Esme came into the kitchen to kick us out so that she could finish cooking for Jake and me.

As we walked back into the living room, Jacob was sitting on the couch with Emmett. They were playing Xbox, Jasper and Alice was playing chess, Rose was on the computer, and standing by a window looking outside had to be Raven. When she turned her face toward us I gasped. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Raven smiled and walked toward us. I noticed that she was almost as tall as Edward. Her hair was jet black, curly, and fell just past her shoulders. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched and her eyes were the same amber color as the Cullens.

Raven held out her hand toward me and said, "Bella, it's so nice to finally meet you. I feel that I have already met you because everyone talks about you all of the time and of course, with my visions, I've seen you a couple of times."

"I'm very glad to meet you also. I'm so glad that Edward has you and you guys are so happy. I hope that over time we will be able to be friends."

"I would like that, Bella, very much."

Raven gave my hand another squeeze and she let go. Breakfast went well. Jacob and I ate and by the time we were done, Jacob was almost in a food coma. We spent most of the day there and left when it started to get dark outside. Jacob dropped me off at home because he had to meet with the pack and take his turn at patrols. I made dinner for Charlie and then went upstairs to my room. While I was in my bed reading, I fell asleep.

_**One Week Later**_

Sam and Emily had invited everyone over to their house for a Christmas Eve party. Charlie had already left because he was going to pick up Sue and Seth to take them over to Sam's. Jacob was on patrol until 9 o'clock, so I was going to ride with Paul since he was the one patrolling by my house right now. To pass the time, I was typing my mom an email when suddenly; I felt a cold breeze come into my window. I smiled to myself and said, "Alice, what are you doing here? I can feel your coldness you know."

"Sorry to disappoint you, Bella, but it's not Alice."

I stopped typing, turned around and smiled. "Raven, what are you doing here? Why did you come through my window instead of knocking at the front door? I can't visit with you right now. I am about to go to La Push."

"Sorry, Bella, this is not a social call. Edward sent me over to come and get you to take you back to our house. It's not safe here. Victoria is back and she was spotted in the woods behind your house."

A sudden rush of fear took over my body, and I began to shake. It had been so long since Victoria tried to come after me that I had hoped she'd decided to let her revenge go. It didn't make sense that Paul wasn't in the house protecting me and he'd let Raven come in through the window.

"If I leave with you I know that Jacob will be mad at me. Edward can't make these kinds of decisions for me anymore; he has to trust that Jacob can keep me safe."

"No, you don't understand Jacob called Edward and asked for him to come and get you and take you to our house. He knows that Alice can see if Victoria plans to come there to attack, and since Edward can read minds they would have a better advantage at keeping you safe so Jacob can focus on destroying Victoria."

All of this was happening so fast. I just couldn't form a clear thought. I knew that I had no choice but to go with Raven if that would keep Jacob from being distracted and getting hurt or killed because of me.

Raven walked toward me and said, "I know how much you mean to Edward and Jacob. I assure you that you will be well taken care of." She then smiled at me. I started to back away from Raven because I felt like something was wrong, something about Raven was off. I felt a cold shiver go down my spine. Something about Raven's face was different but what is it?

I backed into the wall and stared at Raven with shock and horror when I realized what was different about her. Raven's eyes were no longer amber but they were blood-red instead.

**Thank you, Twilightrocks122 and DreaC for helping with this chapter.**

**Thanks for the story alerts and reviews! Guess what? This story is almost over, just a couple more chapters.**


	10. Chapter 10 Just Kill Me Now

**Jacob POV**

The members of my pack had creative ways of passing the time while they ran patrols. Quil had an obsessive habit of counting the squirrels that he saw running around the forest, Embry thought of new ways to get girls to give him their phone numbers, Jared and Sam thought about their imprints nonstop and Paul…spent his time complaining. The topic for tonight was lack of vampire activity and useless patrols.

The pack had learned not to interrupt Paul's inner monologues. We noticed that when he was allowed to vent in this manner, he seemed to have more control over his temper when he was in his human form. He knew whoever was on patrol with him could hear every thought he had, but for whatever reason, just knowing that someone was listening to him seemed to be a comfort to him.

At the moment, Paul was wondering why we still had to run patrols so frequently, even though the only bloodsuckers around were the Cullens. There hadn't been any other vampire activity in months.

Paul's train of thought suddenly shifted, and he reflected on the fact that for a while he resented Bella when Bella and I first started hanging out. He wouldn't let go of the fact that she had continued to pursue a relationship with the bronze-haired leech once she realized that he wasn't human.

Paul thought about how screwed up in the head Bella was the first couple of months after the leeches left. He was under the impression that Bella had been using me as a means to pass the time until the bloodsuckers came back for her.

It shocked me at first when I realized that Paul had thought I was a decent guy and that I didn't deserve to be hurt by someone who wasn't capable of even loving herself.

Once Paul realized that I'd imprinted, the negative thoughts about Bella began to change, and Paul started to hope that Bella would realize that I was the best choice for her. I smiled when I heard Paul think to himself that he now liked Bella and that she'd proven herself worthy of being a wolf girl.

I watched Paul make one more sweep around Bella's house before he would go inside to get dressed for the party. Suddenly, Paul caught the sickly sweet scent in the air. The next instant, Victoria stood in front of Paul with an evil smile on her face. Just as quickly she was gone, and Paul chased after her through the woods. He howled, and almost immediately I heard many voices in my head wanting to know what was going on. Paul said, "The redhead is here! I just found her in the woods right behind Bella's house. I'm chasing after her right now. I can't believe this. It's been months, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, here she is!"

I ran as fast as I could toward Bella's house. How could this be happening? It had been months since the red-headed leech had been around. How could she be so bold as to come so close to the house? I knew that she could smell Paul. What was she thinking? Then it occurred to me that if Paul was chasing her then Bella was unprotected. Through our thoughts I yelled to Paul, "Go back to the house and protect Bella! It's a trap! She wanted you to run after her so that Bella would be unprotected!"

I ran with all my might, and once I reached her house I leaped into Bella's window. Immediately, I knew that I was too late. Bella was gone. I looked around the room and saw blood smeared on the wall alongside her dresser and on the carpet. I sniffed the air and was confused because there wasn't a fresh bloodsucker scent. I quickly searched the whole house and found nothing. Everyone was searching the woods, and the only scent they could find was Victoria's. My Bella was out there somewhere, and I had no idea if she was still alive, dead, or turned into a leech.

**Raven POV**

Human fear was so appealing; I had missed it over these past months pretending to be something that I wasn't. I lied to the Cullens about who I really was and what my gifts and talents actually were. Yes, I was a shield and could tell the future, but it went way deeper than that. I was also a mind manipulator that had the ability to make a person see what I wanted them to see. Mind readers heard what I wanted them to hear. I had the ability to hide my true scent. I could mask it to smell like any other vampire that I had ever come in contact with or I could have no scent at all. Human blood didn't make me sick, but I had a lot of control when it came to resisting it.

Victoria and I were once part of the same coven, until I decided to venture off on my own. It took some time, but eventually she found me and asked if I would help her get revenge on the people who killed her mate.

The wolves knew that Victoria was after Bella, and they had her heavily protected. That's where my gifts came into play. If I could become part of the family then I would have easy access to Bella. The only complication was that Edward was banned from visiting Bella, and she wasn't allowed to come to the wedding. It would have been odd for me to want to come and see her without Edward, so our plan was at a standstill. But then that stupid alpha dog handed Bella over to us on a platter when he invited Edward to come and visit her. While the wolves were focused on Victoria running around the forest, I was here in Bella's room torturing her.

"I see that you have noticed the change in my eye color; I had a little snack before I came to see you. I'm sure that you have a lot of questions, but I can't answer them right now. We have to get going. There's some place that you need to be."

Bella opened her to mouth to scream, but before she could let out a whimper, I grabbed her by the neck and raised her off the floor. She attempted to pull at my hands as she thrashed around, but of course that did her no good. I flung her across the room like a rag doll. She crashed into her dresser and fell unconscious to the floor. I picked her up, slung her over my shoulder, and leaped out the window. This was just too easy.

**Bella POV**

I woke up and the first thing I was conscious of was the pain. My head was pounding, it felt like a couple of my ribs were broken, and my throat was very sore. I attempted to sit up but felt a sharp pain on my left side, and my head began to spin. The room was empty except for a couple of chairs and an old broken down table.

"Glad you could join us, Bella."

My heart almost stopped beating. I knew that voice; it was Victoria. The time had finally come. I was going to die.

Victoria walked toward me and said, "Well, well, well, it looks like I finally won. You are at my mercy and there is no one here to protect you. Your fate is in my hands."

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and realized Raven was standing in the corner.

It hurt to know that she had assisted Victoria with kidnapping me. "Raven, how could you do this? I don't understand. Do you realize how much I mean to the Cullens? They will be crushed when they find out what you have done. Edward will be heartbroken. How could you do this to him?"

"Bella, you just don't get it, do you? I couldn't care less about the Cullens and about Edward's feelings. This was just a game for me. I never felt anything for him and when this is all over, I'm gone. None of you will cross my mind again."

"I don't understand. How were you able to fool Alice, Edward, and Jasper?"

"All a part of my gift, I'm a manipulator of the mind. People see and hear what I want them to see and hear. I wanted Edward to fall in love with me, so that is what happened. I needed to be close to the family so I could have easy access to you. As of right now, no one has any idea where you are or what is happening to you. All they know is that Victoria is around and that she has something to do with it, but that is about to change. Part of Victoria's plan is to let Alice and Edward see what is going on, so that they can suffer when they have to watch you die. I almost feel sorry for you. Victoria is going to torture you until you beg for her to kill you and then she is going to suck you dry."

Victoria impatiently said, "Enough talking. Raven, let your shield down so that they can see what I'm about to do to their precious Bella."

Victoria looked at me with hunger in her eyes as she slowly crouched low to the ground. Next thing I knew, she was directly in front of me. I tried to scoot back but moving was too painful. Victoria shoved her fist into my side and if my ribs weren't broken before they were now. I heard the sound of my bones as they cracked, and I screamed.

**There are two chapters left before this story will be completed. Will Jacob find Bella in time?**


	11. Chapter 11 Author's Note

A quick note to let everyone know that this story has not been abandoned. "The Alpha's Imprint" is taking up all of my writing time. Once that story is complete then I will be able to finish this story.

The wait won't be too long because The Alpha's Imprint is almost done. Just 2-3 more chapters to go.


	12. Chap 12 Until Your Heart Stops Beating

**Jacob POV**

We'd been searching for Bella for a couple of hours and there was no sign of her. The fortune-teller could not see Bella's future at all, nor could we find her scent or Victoria's. For the first time since I'd known the Cullens, Edward was not his regular calm, lifeless self. His eyes were wild with panic at not being able to find Bella his mate.

Bella had trusted me to protect her and Charlie and I had failed. Charlie never made it to Sue's, so not only were we looking for Bella but some of the wolves were also searching for her father. I was so emotionally drained that I could not shift into my wolf form.

Suddenly, the fortune-telling vamp began to have a vision and fell to her knees screaming. At the same moment, Edward collapsed to the ground and yelled, "No!"

The leech had her arms wrapped around herself as she rocked back and forth on her knees. Edward had stopped yelling and was sitting on the ground propped up against a tree in a trance. There was no expression or life in his eyes. I walked toward the fortune-teller and said, "Tell me what's wrong. What has the redhead done to her?"

The leech continued to rock as she whispered, "Raven jumped into Bella's window, and kidnapped her. She took her to Victoria and Victoria killed her."

I started to shake and was having a very hard time controlling myself.

"How did she do it? How did she kill Bella?"

"I saw her crouched next to Bella. She was close enough to graze Bella's skin and then the vision went black."

"Did you actually see the redhead bite Bella?"

"No, but I didn't have to, that was the next action. The vision went black because Bella is dead."

"What do you mean Raven kidnapped her?"

"She tricked us; she never really wanted to be with Edward. It was a trap to get close enough to Bella to take her away and give her to Victoria."

I staggered backward as I absorbed what the leech had said. Edward's mate gave Bella to the redhead. I closed my eyes as my body continued to tremble. I fought with the wolf within me not to come out and rip Edward to shreds. As much as I wanted to place all of the blame on him, most of this was my fault. I was the Alpha, Bella was my mate, and it was my choice to allow Edward back into her life.

Edward slowly walked toward me and said, "I deserve to be killed by you. It's my fault that all of this happened. If I just had stayed away from Bella, none of this would be happening now. She would be happy living a life with you."

_One hour later_

No one knew what to do. There was no trail to follow and my mate's future, according to the fortune-teller, was blank. I refused to believe that Bella was dead. She may be hurt but she was still alive. I knew this because I could still feel her connection. I wished that it could lead me to her, but unfortunately, our bond didn't work like that. I gave instructions for my pack to continue to look for a trail. Several of the Cullens were also out in the forest looking as well.

The silence was broken when Edward's phone rang. Everyone's head turned in his direction as Edward snapped out of his trance and pulled his phone out of his pocket. He looked at his phone and we heard him hiss when he saw who it was. He answered the phone and yelled, "Raven, where's Bella?"

My heart started to beat regularly again as I heard the leech tell Edward that Bella was alive, but she wouldn't be for long if we didn't hurry and come and get her. They were hiding her right under our noses; we would have never of thought to look for her on the Cullens property. She was about a mile from where the Cullen house was, in a small abandoned cottage that belonged to them.

**Raven POV**

I could see the pleasure that Victoria felt when she heard the crunching of the human's ribs. I wanted to warn her to back off a little because it wouldn't take much to kill her, but it was too late. Victoria hissed when she realized that she would have to cut her torture short since one of Isabella's lungs was punctured. She was starting to have difficulty breathing. Victoria had some wicked plans concerning how she was going to bring Isabella such pain, but the only way she wanted her to die was by being bitten and sucked dry. So Victoria was going to have to end this a lot sooner than she'd planned.

Victoria looked into Isabella's eyes and said, "If you have any last words you can look toward Raven. I'm sure by now Alice can see us and she will be able to relay the message for you."

There was fear and a stubborn determination in Isabella's eyes as she stared at Victoria. She continued to struggle to breathe, but she wouldn't turn toward me. I had to give Isabella some credit; most humans by this point would be pleading for their lives, wetting their pants, or crying out for someone to save them. Isabella did none of this. Instead, she choked out, "I have no message for my family. Just know that killing me still won't change the fact that James is nothing but a pile of ash back in Phoenix."

Isabella then closed her eyes and waited to die. Her last words consumed Victoria with a renewed anger. She crouched next to her victim's neck, opened her mouth, and slowly began to graze the skin with her sharp teeth.

I could see the reaction that Alice and Edward were having when I allowed them access to my mind. They now knew everything and they knew that Isabella Swan was about to take her final breath. The next time they saw her she would be nothing but a drained, pale, corpse.

My eyes darted to the front door when I realized that we weren't the only vampires in the room. My arms dropped down to my sides as I gazed into the red eyes of a very irritated Jane Volturi.

She raised an eyebrow at me and then looked toward Victoria. Immediately, Victoria flung her body back as she screamed and convulsed in pain. Jane looked at me and said, "Isabella Swan is off limits."

Jane glanced toward Victoria and said, "She may not have known that, but I'm sure you did. Why would you go against Aro's wishes?"

"She wanted to avenge her mate's death and asked for my help."

"You had to know that we would come and stop this."

"I'd hoped there was a possibility that Aro wasn't attached to me anymore."

Victoria was still screaming and rolling around on the floor. Jane looked at her and said, "Since Raven didn't warn you that Isabella was off limits, consider this your only warning."

Victoria was no longer screaming but she didn't attempt to get up.

Jane turned toward Isabella, shook her head, and said, "You are like a cat with nine lives. Maybe you would be better off if I let Victoria just kill you now."

Then she faced me and said, "What will the outcome of this be?"

I looked at Victoria as she struggled to stand and stare at Jane. Hate mixed with fear in her eyes.

"She will continue to come after Isabella until she finally succeeds in killing her."

Victoria looked at me and hissed, "What are you doing? Who is that and what did she do to me?"

I pointed toward Jane and said, "That is Jane Volturi and she is part of the Volturi Guard, she has the power to cause her victims great pain. She is here because Isabella is under the protection of the Volturi. She is not to be harmed or turned by one of our kind."

"Did you know this when I came to you?"

"Yes."

Victoria started pulling at her hair and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It would not have mattered to you. You still would have come after the human. With my help, you had more of a chance. If it's any consolation to you, if we would have been able to get to Isabella sooner your plan would have worked. Isabella would be dead right now."

Jane raised her hand and said, "Enough! Raven believes that you will attempt to go against our wishes so you will die."

Once again, Victoria fell to the ground screeching in pain. Jane called out, "Felix, come and take care of this."

Jane looked at me and said, "Call the Cullens and tell them where Isabella is. I'm ready to go home and Demetri misses you."

Soon after, we felt the ground shake and seconds later the wolves and the Cullens were standing before us. The alpha dog immediately changed back to his human form and screamed, "Where is she? Where's my Bella?" Jane pointed toward the front door and Jacob ran in that direction. Rather than opening the door, he yanked it off the hinges and kept going.

I looked at Edward and could tell that all he wanted to do was rip me apart piece by piece. Jane stepped forward and said, "Since Isabella is imprinted to the dog, I think it would be fitting to let him take her away."

She looked at Edward directly and said, "You have caused enough damage in her life don't you think?"

Carlisle interrupted Jane and said, "Could I check and see how bad her injuries are?"

Jane nodded her head and Carlisle ran through the front door. Edward and Alice attempted to follow him. Jane raised her hand and said, "Don't come any closer."

Another wolf changed back into his human form, got dressed, and unstrapped another pair of shorts from his other leg and went inside the cottage. Moments later Isabella's mate walked out the front door cradling her unconscious form. The look on his face was a mixture of relief for finding her alive and the deepest sadness that she was hurt. He looked at the other dog that stood next to him and said, "I need a car to put her in. Running with her is too dangerous. One of her ribs has punctured her lung."

Carlisle told them they could use his car since it was the closest. Alice left and ran to get the car and it seemed that seconds later she was back with Carlisle's car. Jacob put Isabella in the back seat and he sat alongside her. The other dog got in the driver's seat. Carlisle looked at Jane and asked her could he ride with them to the hospital, she nodded her head yes and they took off.

I walked toward Edward and said, "Not that I care what you think one way or the other, but the reason why Isabella is alive right now is because of the connection that I have with the Volturi. The reason I was not torn apart like Victoria is because of who I am and what I can do. I know what you want to do to me and by all means please try, but I assure you that you will die and I will still be allowed to walk this earth. I can promise you this though; I do not intend to ever come back here again. Isabella is safe from me at least."

**So sorry I had to put this story on hold. I realized that I couldn't focus on two stories at once. I wanted to give this story my undivided attention since it was my first story. I didn't want to just slap something together. That would have defeated the purpose of reposting it to make it better.**

**On Both Sides of the Line originally was about twenty-seven short chapters. This time it will only be about thirteen longer chapters. That means this story is almost done. Thank you for your reviews and story alerts. It means a lot to me. If you haven't already check out my other story "The Alpha's Imprint".**


	13. Chapter 13 I Wish I'd Never Met You

**Edward POV**

Raven had done nothing but bring pain and strife into our lives. I was raised to be a gentleman, but at the moment, all I wanted to do was slap the smirk off her face and rip her head off. My face must have reflected how I felt because both Jane and Felix were tense and standing on either side of Raven in a protective stance, waiting for me to make a move.

Raven's thoughts were loud and clear.

"_You are consumed with anger for me and would love to see me dead. However, I can guarantee that the day will come when you will love again and that person will love you back and never betray you."_

How dare she think that after what she'd done to Bella I would believe anything thing she had to say? I hissed, "There is nothing you can say to me that I will believe. You are a mind manipulator. I loved and trusted you, and you used that to help my enemy."

Jane snapped, "Enough!"

She turned toward Raven and said, "Finish this so we can leave."

Raven told us that how she was changed was the truth, but Demetri from the Volturi was the one that changed her. She said one of Demetri's gifts was that he could detect what a human's gift would be if they were turned into one of us. Every couple of centuries, Demetri traveled the world in search of prospective humans that would make the Volturi Guard stronger.

Ravens gifts were detected, and Demetri insisted on being the one to change her because he wanted her as his mate. Raven had had a hard time letting go of her humanity and didn't want to take human life. The control she had around humans as a newborn was unnatural for a vampire; she could resist the bloodlust and didn't let it dictate her actions. Even now, she still preferred the blood of animals over humans, but she blamed Aro for her change in diet.

As angry as I was with Raven for what she'd done to us, I felt nothing but sympathy for her when she told us what the Volturi had done to her human family.

After being a member of the Volturi for five years, Aro decided to take matters into his own hands and force Raven to drink human blood like the rest of them. He summoned her into his chambers; that was when she realized that she hadn't had a vision in about a week. Aro had used a member of the Volturi to block her visions. He had kidnapped her human family and told Raven if she wanted her family to live then she would have to start feeding like a real vampire. Aro told Raven that her compassion for humans was a weakness, and he wouldn't tolerate it anymore. Raven agreed, and before the sun went down that same day, Raven lost the last of her humanity and took a human life.

It made no sense that the Volturi would go through so much trouble to bring in a couple of humans just to force Raven to do what they wanted. They didn't have that kind of compassion to let them just walk away unharmed even if they had the ability to erase their memories. If Raven was telling the truth, she was very naive to believe that her human family left Volterra alive.

Raven confirmed my suspicions when she told us that a few years later she discovered that Aro had lied to her-her family had been killed the same day she last saw them. That was when she decided to leave Volterra and venture out into the world on her own. Aro didn't attempt to stop her because he knew that one day she would come back.

Raven reminded us that Aro did nothing out of kindness; he had not come to Isabella's rescue as a favor to our family or because he had taken a liking to Bella. Aro changed his mind about changing Isabella Swan because he realized allowing her to become a vampire would cause our family to become too powerful—there was a chance that because of our acquaintance with the shape shifters we could overthrow their throne. Therefore, her staying human would be in his best interest.

Jane interrupted Raven and told us that we were never to have any contact with Isabella Swan again. We had to leave Forks and never return. If not, we would be destroyed.

**Bella POV**

Pain radiated from every part of my body from the top of my head down to the tip of my toes. I was grateful for the pain,

though —it meant that I wasn't a vampire or dead. The brightness of the light coming through the window hurt my eyes as I slowly attempted to open them.

"Bella, thank God you're awake! I was so scared that you would never open your eyes again."

I slowly turned my head toward the voice that sent a wave of peace through my body. Jacob picked up my hand and slowly brought it to his lips as tears ran down his face. There were dark circles under his eyes that gave away that he hadn't slept for days.

As I opened my mouth to respond, I realized that breathing hurt and trying to talk was a difficult task. In a very weak and low voice, I asked, "What happened to Victoria and Raven?"

Jacob leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

"Please try not to talk. You were hurt very badly, and it's going to take a while before you completely recover. Just listen, and I will try to explain everything to you that went on with Victoria and Raven.

"I don't know how much you remember about what happened, but Paul was on patrol by your house when Victoria showed up, and he went after her. She was just a distraction to get Paul away from you so that Raven could take you away. Once I realized it was a trap, I told Paul to go back to you. However, by the time he got there, you were already gone. We looked everywhere for you, but we couldn't find a trail anywhere."

Jacob let go of my hand and started to roughly run his hands through his hair as he thought about what had happened.

"Cullen's psycho fiancée never wanted to be a part of their bloodsucking family; she was using them to get to you. The redheaded leech tortured you and almost killed you, but the leeches from Italy showed up and killed her. They instructed the Cullens to have no more contact with you or they would be destroyed."

Jacob picked up my hand, gave it a slight squeeze, and took a deep breath.

"You have been unconscious for four days. You have three fractured ribs and your left lung was punctured. You will be here for about another week and a half, but the doctors believe that you will make a full recovery."

Looking around the hospital room, I realized that Jacob was the only one here with me. Where were Charlie, Renee and the pack? Something didn't feel right.

"Jacob, where is everybody? Why are you the only one here with me?"

Jacob closed his eyes; I could tell that he was battling with what he needed to say to me next.

He squeezed my hand again, took a deep breath, and said, "You are just too observant. I was hoping that the news about the Cullens would keep your mind occupied for a while before I had to tell you this. Once you were taken, we called Sue's to tell Charlie that you were missing. That was when we found out that Charlie never made it to Sue's, so not only were we looking for you, but we were also looking for your dad. A few hours after you were found, we got a phone call from the fortune-telling leech, telling us to check the boat in your driveway. We went to your house and sniffed around the boat that is in your yard, and we smelled nothing. I pulled off the tarp, and there was Charlie."

Jacob let go of my hand, stood up, and walked away from me toward the window. He had his back toward me, but I noticed that his shoulders were shaking, and I could hear as he attempted to hold back the sobs that threatened to overtake his body. I realized what he was going to say, and I didn't want to hear it. With all the effort that I possessed, I said as loudly as I could, "Please, don't say it. Go get my dad. I want to see him. He should be here to know that I am okay. Jacob, look at me! Tell me that Charlie is in the cafeteria, waiting for me to wake up. I don't want to hear you say anything else."

Jacob turned around and looked at me with tears falling down his face. He fell to his knees by my bed.

"Bella, you know that I would do anything for you. You are my life, and I would never want to do anything that would cause you harm or pain. I don't want to tell you this, but you have to know. Charlie is dead; he was killed by a bloodsucker."

**I am so sorry that it took so long to update. This chapter was difficult to fix. I was stuck until I realized that the POV needed to be changed. It originally was in Raven's POV but there was way too much dialogue.**

**I hope you like it and I think there is only one more chapter left.**

**Thank you, Kay****-Gemini and for helping beta this chapter.**

**I have good news, for those of you who have read The Alpha's Imprint; someone has requested to do a fanfic of it. She's working on it now and the first chapter should be ready within the next month. It will focus on Quil and Claire's son Walker and Embry's daughter Tamera. I will be posting the first chapter under The Alpha's Imprint to help introduce her story so be on the look out for that.**

**I'm in the process of having a video made for "The Alpha's Imprint" so be on the lookout for that also.**

**I must do a story rec. There are so many stories out there that I'm in love with right now but there is one in particular that has me on the edge of my seat every time she updates and that is "Unspoken" by **_**Naranwien.**_** I know I've talked about it before but man….. She also has a prequel to it called "Fragmented" don't read it until you've finished chapter five of Unspoken. She also has another part to the story called "Unspoken In Glimpses" I would read that after you've read all the chapters of Unspoken. Naranwien has a way of sucking you in to a world that is all Jacob and Bella that almost has you forgetting to breathe as you read line after line. Please take my advice and read it. **

**Thanks so much for the story alerts and reviews they mean a lot to me.**


	14. Chapter 14 Awake

**Jacob POV**

It felt like my heart was being clawed out of my chest when I had to tell Bella that her father was dead. A feeling of helplessness crept over me as she gasped for air and doubled over, attempting to hold herself together by wrapping her arms around her stomach. I hadn't seen her in that position in a while.

As gently as I could I forced Bella to lie back so that she wouldn't cause anymore damage to her already cracked ribs. I tried to get Bella to focus on me and breathe but she was too far gone in her grief. Bella's heart rate was accelerating at a dangerous level, and it didn't take too long for a nurse to run into the room to see what was going on. The nurse told me that Bella was having a panic attack; she injected something into Bella's IV and within moments, Bella went slack in my arms.

Telling Bella that she would no longer be able to see the Cullen's was not a problem. I knew that she wouldn't go into a deep depression like she did before because this time, she had people that she could talk to, and she had me to be there to love her and look after her. This time it was not their choice to walk away from her and, given what their alternative would have been, Bella would understand.

I feared telling Bella that her father was dead and that it was at the hands of a vampire. That fact might just send her over the edge. Charlie dying from natural causes or while he was on duty would have been painful for her, but she would have moved on. Charlie dying because of a vampire was something that she would freak out about. Bella would blame herself for this and there wasn't anything that anyone could say that would change her mind. Everyone had advice for me on the best way to tell her about Charlie. Honestly, there was no best way. I just knew that if it were the other way around; I would want Bella to tell me like it was and not try to protect me from it. I respected her enough to trust and believe that she wouldn't break from this; we would get through this together.

The medication that the nurse gave Bells would have her knocked out for a while, so I quickly went home to shower and change so I could be back before she woke up. Before I left my house, I decided to call Bella's mom to give her an update. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed her number.

"Yes, this is Renee."

"Hey, this is Jake, I just wanted to let you know that Bella woke up and I told her about Charlie. She took the news pretty bad and the nurse had to sedate her. I think it would mean a lot to Bella if you came out here for a visit."

There was a moment of silence before Renee responded.

"Jacob, thank you for calling me and letting me know that Bella woke up. I would love to come out there to be there for her, but I just can't. I'm not strong enough to handle this. I just can't do it. Please keep me updated and when Bella is well enough have her call me please."

Through gritted teeth, I said, "Alright, fine. Good-bye Renee."

"Bye, Jacob."

What is wrong with that woman? Bella needed her and she wouldn't be there for her? How selfish could she get? We were all going through a great deal of stress right now, but none of us would consider abandoning Bella. Renee only knew a tiny portion of what was really going on. What would she do if she knew the whole truth? I guess it was best that she wasn't coming.

Before going back to the hospital, I met with the pack at Sam's and had a chance to update the pack about Renee and the panic attack Bella had. We all decided that no one else but me would come and visit Bella until tomorrow. That should give her a little more time to recover from the shock about what had happened to her dad. I shook my head as I thought about how this was supposed to be such a wonderful time for everyone. Charlie was going to ask Sue to marry him, and I was going to spend as much time with the woman I loved that I possibly could. This past week had been a living hell. How could our lives change so dramatically in only five days? 

**Bella POV**

I liked the blackness where there were no dreams or feelings. A part of me wished that I could stay in this abyss forever. I didn't want to have to deal with what was out there waiting for me. Emotionally and physically I had, had enough, but there was that pull, that undercurrent of warmth that I needed and craved. If I stayed here then I wouldn't be able to feel that warmth, and I couldn't survive without it.

Jacob was the air that I breathed. He gave me the purpose to fight my way out of this hole because I couldn't lose him too. So no matter how much I would like to not feel, It would hurt more not to feel my Jacob. At the same moment that I made that decision, everything that had happened over the past five days came rushing back at me. It was too overwhelming to handle on my own. I needed my sun. I needed my Jacob. I fought against the heaviness of my eyes and lips. I fought through the fog of unconsciousness as I called his name repeatedly. Finally, in the smallest of whispers that only a mystical creature could hear, I said, "Jacob."

**This story is pretty much done. One more chapter and it will be complete. I really hope you liked it and please leave a review to let me know how this story was for you. Thank you so much for all the story alerts.**

**If you haven't already, check out my second fanfic The Alpha's Imprint, my one and only one-shot Slide, and please stop by wolfclub's profile and check out her story Once in a Lifetime. It's a fanfic from The Alpha's Imprint she took an interest in the second-generation wolf pack and asked me if she could write a story about Quil's son. Walker is straight loco and self-destructive. I know it's not the characters that you may be used to reading about but give her a chance. **


	15. Chapter 15 Epilogue

It had been a relief to Jacob that Bella would be coming home from the hospital today. He was relieved that they could finally put this part of their lives behind them. The past two weeks had been the worst in their lives, but Jacob believed in the saying, "What didn't kill you would make you stronger." This meant that there was still hope for them.

Bella had handled her father's death so much better than everyone anticipated she would. There were times when she would get lost in her thoughts, but it wasn't like before when Bella resembled a zombie. She didn't hold everything in like before. If she felt like crying, yelling or just talking, she did it.

Jacob had been right; Bella did blame herself for Charlie's death, but not in the way he assumed she would. Bella knew that there was nothing she could have done about Victoria wanting to kill her. Of course, she believed that there would not have been vampires around her home if they wouldn't have been coming for her. So because of that, Bella felt it was her fault, but she wasn't punishing herself for it.

Bella believed that Raven killed Charlie, and her theory made sense to the pack. The dark crimson color of Raven's eyes was a sign that she had just fed when she kidnapped Bella. All traces of Charlie's scent were erased–which was also one of Raven's gifts. At least the pack had an idea on what had happened to him.

Bella decided to drop out of college. As much as Jacob didn't want her to, he understood why she couldn't be away from her loved ones. She didn't like to be alone at all anymore, so the pack made sure that someone was in the hospital room with Bella at all times. They knew as time went on and she felt safe again, things would get better for her.

It was a mutual decision that Bella would not go back to Forks to live, but instead, she would move to La Push. Jacob knew that Bella was uncomfortable with the thought of marriage, but he didn't want to bring her into his home to live unless he had made her his wife first. Jacob was surprised when Bella was the one to bring up the topic of marriage. She told him that if Charlie had still been alive, it would break his heart if she started living with Jacob without being married first. That very same day, Jacob went to the jewelry store to buy a ring. in the same night, he pushed Bella's wheelchair into the hospital garden. Under the star lit sky, he got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife.

With a shaky voice, Bella said, "Yes."

Two days later, they were married in the small hospital chapel. It was decided that they would have a special bonfire in the summer to celebrate their marriage. For now, having a party just didn't seem appropriate.

Bella couldn't wait to start her life as Jacob's husband. She had lost so much in such a short amount of time, but had also gained so much. She was now connected to a family that would always be there for her and would love her no matter what. Bella was still very hurt about how her own mother refused to come and be a support to her. Renee was still her mother, and Bella would continue to love her no matter what.

Renee wasn't too happy about Jacob and her daughter getting married. She felt that they were still too young, and that they had rushed into something that they weren't ready for yet. Well, it didn't really matter to Bella what Renee thought. For so many years, Bella was the one who took care of her mother. Bella felt Renee had lost the right to expect her to consider taking any kind of advice from her. Especially when she couldn't even handle coming to Forks to make sure that her one and only daughter was going to be okay.

For now, Jacob and Bella were going to live with Billy, but because of the Cullen's generosity when Bella graduated from high school, they had more than enough money to buy a home. Bella was taking baby steps, and as each day came and went, she started to get better. She wasn't the same Bella that almost fell apart when Edward left her so long ago. Having Jacob in her life had helped Bella to face life as it came, and also to trust that those that loved her would stick around and be there for her no matter what. Because of what Raven did to Bella's dad, she never wanted to see another vampire again. It was good that the Cullens weren't allowed to have any contact with her anymore, because even though they didn't kill her father, it was because they existed that he was dead. Bella couldn't forgive that.

Jacob and the pack would never say it to Bella's face, but they were pleased that she felt that way. No one tried to be polite when the pack talked about vampires around her anymore, and Bella never had a kind word to say about them either.

_**Three years later**_

After living with Billy for about 6 months, Jacob and Bella bought their own home. Jacob finished mechanical school and his boss sold him his shop. So now, Jacob and Bella were the proud owners of "Black's Mechanics". Business was doing great.

Bella had an idea to write fictional stories about vampires. She made sure to stick closer to the Hollywood version than to the truth as to not have the Volturi after her again. Her first book was a hit, so she wrote three more for that series. She was approached about making her books into a television series, which turned out to be very successful.

Jacob and Bella's love for each other continued to grow day by day. They had a son and named him Jacob Charles Black and in two weeks, they would be celebrating his first birthday. He looked and acted just like his dad. Everyone called him little Charlie, and he was showered with so much love from everyone. Even though Bella and Jacob had many obstacles to climb, it's wonderful to say that Bella and Jacob did get their happy ending.

**The End, for the second time. Thanks for all of the reviews and story alerts I received for this story. I hope that this last chapter doesn't disappoint. **

**Just a reminder, I have started doing one-shots for The Alpha's Imprint. They can be found under " The Alpha's Imprint Second Generation Wolf Pack Chronicles. So far part one is posted, it won't be updated too frequently.**

**Also Wolfclub has fanfic'd The Alpha's Imprint and her story is called Once In a Life Time. It focuses on Quil and Claire's son. If you like drama and relationship issues that's the story to read.**


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